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May 19, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi
TOKYO -- While big video game developers push ever more elaborate, expensive productions, freelancers and small studios are turning edgy ideas into successful titles that sell for only about 500 yen ($3). One such hit is Exit 8, where players navigate what looks like an endless subway corridor.
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Feb 22, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi |Nami Matsuura
TOKYO -- The Nikkei Stock Average recorded an all-time high after 34 years on Thursday, with stock prices of 142 companies having increased more than tenfold in that time, recently supported by foreign investors cashing in on small businesses and betting on company founders with outsize ambitions. In Edinburgh, Scotland, where influential investors gather, a Japanese equity fund has survived the "lost three decades" with outstanding returns.
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Feb 13, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi |Hinako Sato
TOKYO -- Japan's listed companies are riding strong financial results -- bolstered by price increases, the weak yen and the robust U.S. economy -- to historic high stock prices, with 60% of companies that have announced profit results for October to December exceeding analyst expectations. Staffing services company Recruit Holdings' shares gained sharply in Tokyo on Tuesday, briefly reaching a high of 6,412 yen, up 9% from Friday's close and the highest level since January 2022.
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Jan 11, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi |Kensaku Ihara
TOKYO/HONG KONG -- The total market capitalization of shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange passed that of Shanghai's bourse on Thursday in dollar terms, regaining the top position in Asia. Overseas investors are back in force in Japan's stock market, making up for lost time with big purchases of blue chips.
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Jan 11, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi |Kensaku Ihara
TOKYO/HONG KONG -- Overseas investors are back in force in Japan's stock market, making up for lost time with big purchases of blue chips. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.8% on Thursday to close at 35,049, gaining for the fourth session in a row and reaching its highest point since February 1990.
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Dec 29, 2023 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi
TOKYO -- Japanese stocks wrapped up 2023 with historic gains thanks in large part to three drivers: the Tokyo Stock Exchange's push for reform at undervalued companies, Warren Buffett's trip to Japan, and a rise in acquisitions. The Nikkei Stock Average ended the final trading day of the year at 33,464 on Friday, up 28% on the year for the biggest rise since the record-setting year of 1989.
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Nov 17, 2023 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi
TOKYO -- Warren Buffett's investment group Berkshire Hathaway said Friday it will sell 122 billion yen ($815 million) in yen-denominated bonds in its second such fundraising round this year. The bonds will be sold in five tranches, with the three-year bond the largest portion at 73.4 billion yen. Berkshire Hathaway will also offer bonds with maturities of five, 10, 20 and 35 years.
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Nov 8, 2023 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Toshihiro Sato |Kosuke Iguchi
TOKYO -- Two of Japan's biggest life insurers, Nippon Life Insurance and Dai-ichi Life Insurance, are increasing their purchases of superlong-term Japanese government bonds in the second half of fiscal 2023, amid rising yields and high hedging costs associated with foreign bond investment. "Yields on 30-year bonds have been rising, and are now at a level sufficient for investment," said Akiko Osawa, managing executive director at Nippon Life Insurance, or Nissay.
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Sep 5, 2023 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi
TOKYO -- The Nikkei Stock Average rebounded on Tuesday into the 33,000 territory for the first time in roughly a month, the rally driven by late-blooming restaurant and banking sectors boosted by strong domestic demand and higher interest rates. The Nikkei average closed at 33,036, which is still short of the year-to-date high of 33,753 recorded July 3. But several individual stocks jumped to new heights for the year.
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Aug 28, 2023 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kosuke Iguchi
TOKYO -- The Nikkei Stock Average on Monday logged its biggest point gain of August as individual investors flocked to Japanese equities bolstered by higher earnings expectations. The index closed up 546 points at 32,170, recovering about 80% of the losses from Friday's session -- a setback touched off by tech stock woes spilling over from Wall Street.
