Nikkei rises as BOJ sticks to monetary easing

Japan’s Nikkei index rose on Friday after the Bank of Japan chose to keep interest rates unchanged as widely expected and said that monetary easing conditions were likely to continue for the time being.

According to Reuters, the Nikkei rose 0.8% to 37,934.76 points at the close, an increase of 0.4% from the morning session, after the Bank of Japan announced its decision on monetary policy during the midday rest period.

The index gained more than 1% during the session and crossed the psychological barrier at 38,000 points, but was unable to maintain this momentum.

The real estate sector achieved the best performance on the Nikkei index thanks to expectations that interest rates will continue to be low, and Mitsui Fudosan shares rose 3.6%.

Technology stocks remained in the bullish zone, tracking the gains of their American counterparts overnight, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising nearly 2 percent despite the decline in the three main indexes on Wall Street.

Shares of Tokyo Electron, a giant chip manufacturing equipment company, gained approximately 2%, and shares of SoftBank Group, which invests in emerging companies, increased 2.35%.

Silicon producer Shin-Etsu Chemical bucked the trend of semiconductor stocks and fell by more than six percent after announcing that it would offer a huge premium in its takeover bid for Mimasu.