Singapore Share on High at Midday Trading
Singapore shares were higher at noon on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index gaining 20.39 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 3,007.80. Turnover was moderately high at 1.38 billion units, at a value of S$1.08 billion. There were 268 rises versus 94 declines in the broad market.
Nikkei rallies 1.8% to 6-month high on BOJ easing
Japan's Nikkei average jumped 1.8 per cent to a six-month high on Wednesday after the Bank of Japan expanded its asset buying programme the day before and set an inflation goal to pull the economy out of deflation. The surprise move, which included adding 10 trillion yen (US$128 billion) to its asset purchase programme, pushed the yen to a 3-1/2-month low against the dollar, lifting the appeal of exporter shares.
Honda Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, TDK Corp and Komatsu Ltd advanced between 3.4 and 4.5 per cent.
The BOJ's move also boosted financial stocks, with Nomura Holdings Inc jumping 6 per cent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group soaring 4.1 per cent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbing 4.4 per cent.
The benchmark Nikkei is up 9 per cent so far this year as an improving outlook for the US economy and an injection of 489 billion euros of three-year loans by the European Central Bank to boost liquidity counters disappointing corporate earnings in Japan.
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