Japan stock market week to Nov 10, 2008

Tokyo posted a modest advance in the week ended November 10. The Nikkei 225 was up 5.9%, recovering the psychologically-important 9,000 level at the close, while the Topix index rose 5.7%. The market recorded solid daily gains early in the week in anticipation of an overwhelming victory for Democrat Barack Obama in the US presidential election, generating an expectation for increases in economy-stimulating measures. However, it lost strength steeply mid-week, although a daily gain was recorded in the last trading day, because investors refocused on the gloomy outlook for the US, Japanese and global economies. A surprisingly bearish earnings forecast for the current fiscal year unveiled by leading export-oriented blue chip company Toyota discouraged investors. The pharmaceutical index was up 4.9%, underperforming the market.