Tokyo stocks close higher after WHO virus ruling

TOKYO, Jan 31 — Tokyo stocks closed higher today after the World Health Organisation declared the new coronavirus an international emergency but held off on recommending restrictions on the movement of people.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.99 per cent, or 227.43 points, to end at 23,205.18, dropping 2.61 per cent from a week earlier.

The broader Topix index rose 0.58 per cent, or 9.67 points, to 1,684.44. Over the week, it fell 2.66 per cent.

Some investors bought back shares on the belief the crisis is bottoming out as the UN health agency’s director gave its “stamp of approval to China’s aggressive containment effort”, Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCorp, said in a note.

The WHO move “eased some mushrooming fears by suggesting the number of outbreaks is relatively small”, he said.

Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said: “Sentiment was propped up as the WHO didn’t go for travel or trade restrictions.”

“We still don’t know how the virus situation will develop but at least excessive caution has eased,” he told AFP.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned citizens against non-essential travel to China and fast-tracked new rules to limit the spread of the virus.

In Tokyo trading, Uniqlo chain operator Fast Retailing advanced 1.19 per cent to 59,340 yen (RM2,226.45) while chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron jumped 2.29 per cent to 24,500 yen.

Sony was up 0.66 per cent to 7,718 yen.

Game giant Nintendo dropped 3.54 per cent to 40,770 yen after its third-quarter operating profit released late yesterday was slightly lower than market expectations.

The Kyoto-based firm said today there would be no fresh model of its hot-selling Switch console this year.

Japan Airlines was down 0.19 per cent to 3,095 yen. After the closing bell, the firm revised down its net profit forecast for the year ending March 2020 to 93 billion yen from 114 billion yen.

Its net profit plunged 28.4 per cent to 76.3 billion yen in the April-December period while sales were flat compared with the same period a year before.

Japan’s unemployment rate in December stood at 2.2 per cent, unchanged from the previous month, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.

The dollar fetched 109.02 yen in Asian trade, against 108.93 yen in New York late yesterday. — AFP