Nikkei Continues Record Breaking Run With Sales Tax Delay

Asian shares traded mixed on Thursday, as Japanese stocks raced to a new seven-year high on speculation of a sales tax delay.

News that six global banks were fined on Wednesday £2.6bn by regulators for currency-rigging dented investor sentiment elsewhere.

But investors in Japan shrugged off government data that painted a mixed picture of the economy.

The Nikkei was up 1% to 17,392.79 – the highest closing level since June 2007.

The Reuters Tankan poll showed that Japanese manufacturers had grown more confident for the first time in three months, but expected conditions to worsen again, despite moves by the Bank of Japan to boost the economy.

Meanwhile, core machinery orders unexpectedly rose 2.9% in September and companies forecast only a modest decline in orders in the fourth quarter, indicating that business investment would pick up.

However, another Reuters poll showed that 72% of companies said that the economy was too weak to handle a sales tax increase as scheduled.

via BBC

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