Japan stock market week to June 8, 2009

Tokyo continued a three-week upturn in the review period to June 8. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.9% to close at 9865.63, a new eight-month high,  while the Topix Index rose 1.6%. There was persistent hope for an early  economic recovery in Japan, fueled by a positive comment from the  Japanese Finance Minister that the economy had bottomed-out during the  January-March quarter. However, investors saw a dearth of fresh domestic  incentives and realized that the recent Japanese market development was  largely influenced by external factors and news, such as the start of US  car maker General Motor's initiation of reconstruction under government  backing, as well as foreign exchanges. Reflecting the yen's fall,  export-oriented issues drew buying attention. The pharmaceutical index  ended down 2.8%, underperforming the market.