(Reuters) Japanese stocks hit a year-and-a-half high on Monday morning as the yen remained weak following Emmanuel Macron's victory in France's presidential election. The Nikkei index closed up +2,31%, at 19.895,70 points. The broader Topix gained 2,29% to 1.585,86 points.
The defeat of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who threatened France's exit from the European Union, has reassured investors who feared another populist victory after the Brexit vote last year. "Investors are heartened and buying cyclical stocks," said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities. According to the analyst, however, the market is now starting to show signs of overbought after rallying in recent weeks on optimism about corporate profits.
The dollar is stable, after hitting a seven-week high against the yen during the session.
Financial stocks were positively affected by the growing propensity for risk. The rise concerned in particular Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and Nomura Holdings.
Export-oriented companies have also gained ground, in particular Panasonic and Canon.
On the other hand, the steel sector is down, after a US trade survey pointed the finger at eight exporting countries that would harm the US, foreshadowing the imposition of duties.
Sharp decline for Olympus (which fell 8% in the session) after the company announced operating profit of 79 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2018, below the median analyst forecast of 90 billion.
