Japanese stocks rebound ahead of US inflation test – More Asian bourses closed for public holiday

Encouraged by recent Wall Street gains, investors are jumping into Japanese equities. The Nikkei index rose one percent on Monday to 28,508 points. Numerous other Asian stock exchanges, on the other hand, remained closed for public holidays.

“Today’s rise was led by easing concerns about the pace of US interest rate hikes,” said investment strategist Shuji Hosoi of brokerage house Daiwa. Japanese stocks have benefited disproportionately from a growing appetite for risk, as they are quite cheap in an international comparison.

Experts expect Tuesday’s inflation data to show a year-on-year decline in inflation to 8.1 from 8.5 percent. This is fueling hopes that the US Federal Reserve will soon slow its pace of interest rate hikes.

Travel stocks were among the favorites in the Japanese equity market. The indices for airlines and railway operators each rose by more than two percent.