The Nikkei rises driven by Wall Street and the approval of vaccines

The main index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei, rose 0.78% this Friday after easing concerns about the rise in US bond yields and about approval of the use of Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines in Japan.

The Nikkei, grouping the 225 most prominent, publicly owned companies in the market, advanced by 219.58 points.

The Topix, which includes the companies in the first section, those with the highest capitalization, added 0.46% or 8.77 points to stand at 1,904.69 units.

The Tokyo stock market opened higher, driven by the rise in the technology sector, which followed the trend on Wall Street after favorable unemployment data and a lessening concern about rising US government bond yields.

Besides, the use of the coronavirus vaccines by Moderna and AstraZeneca were approved well by Japan. This way, the number of available injections rose to three, together with Pfizer, which is expected to accelerate its slow vaccination campaign. 

Recruit posted a 3.85% increase

The precision instruments sector reaped the most significant gains from the session, along with services and information, and communication.

Human resources company Recruit posted a 3.85% increase, the biggest rise among Nikkei-listed firms. It was followed by the digital advertising company CyberAgent gaining 3.64% and the printing company Toppan Printing which advanced by 3.21%.

The Softbank group brought together the highest volume of operations of the day, and its shares were appreciated by 0.05%. It was followed by Nintendo, the developer and distributor of video games, which added 3.25%). Besides, Fast Retailing, the textile firm, owner of the chain of clothing stores Uniqlo, expanded by 1.08%.

In the first section, 1,076 companies advanced compared to 1,009 that dropped, while 107 closed unchanged.

The trading volume amounted to 1.83 trillion yen (16.88 billion dollars).