Overview
- The Nikkei 225 gained 792.07 points to 54,341.23, logging a second straight record and its first-ever close above 54,000.
- The yen traded near ¥159.17 per dollar in Tokyo trading and later hovered around ¥158.57–¥158.67 in New York.
- Newly issued 10-year Japanese government bond yields touched about 2.185%, the highest level since February 1999, as prices fell.
- Market moves reflect expectations of an early lower-house dissolution and a strengthened Takai administration that could quicken fiscal expansion, a pattern dubbed the “Takai trade.”
- Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama warned that authorities would not rule out measures against excessive or speculative moves, while buying favored AI, semiconductor, energy security, and defense stocks.