Japan’s Nikkei seen rising 7% by year-end

The benchmark Nikkei index currently trades just above 27,000, consolidating around that level after bouncing off a 16-month low of 24,681.74 set in early March. It reached a post-1980s-bubble high of 30,795.78 in September last year.

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share index, which has had a rollercoaster ride in the past year, is forecast to climb over 7% to 29,000 by end-2022, a level last seen at the start of January, according to analysts in a Reuters poll.

Japan stocks have closely followed the fortunes of Wall Street as US equities were buffetted by worries about red-hot inflation and whether the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool it might smother economic growth as well.