Tokyo up as Uno quits

Press, 25 July 1989, Page 28

Tokyo up as Uno quits

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Uno, said he would resign, and after a respectful period of restraint the market answered with a modest round of applause as share prices closed broadly firmer in light trading. “Bad news is good news in the market now,” said one trader.

Sharp losses by the ruling party in Sunday’s upper house election were no surprise, and players welcomed Mr Uno’s notice of departure. “The prospect of renewal in the party is a good sign,” said Mr Tadashi Murakami, a trader for Merrill Lynch Japan.

The key 225-share Nikkei index gained 193.90 points, or 0.57 per cent, to close at 34,093.33. It rose 234.56 on Friday. Turnover was about 550 million shares, unchanged from Friday. Investment trust funds were early buyers, boosting the Nikkei before it slipped on profittaking and sell programs launched by foreign brokers in the morning, traders said. Prices fell into negative territory briefly at midmorning on media reports that Mr Uno would resign, partly to avoid embarrassing him, some brokers said.

But index-linked investment trust fund buying, followed by some other institutions, pushed the Nikkei up all afternoon.

Brokers noted that players watched currency and interest rates as well.

Consumption-related shares such as some retail and consumer-finance issues were bought on hopes that the unpopular 3% consumption tax implemented by the Liberal Democratic Party in April will be scrapped, traders said.

The stock index futures market rose for the fourth day in a row In heavy volume. Key September contracts opened higher and kept their momentum to close at or just off the day’s highs; traders said. . I <'