The Nikkei 225 average (Nikkei index), Japan's benchmark stock index, posted a record-high monthly point gain last month.
According to Nikkei on the 1st, the Nikkei index closed at 52,411.34 at the end of Oct., with a month-end-to-month-end increase of 7,478 points. It was the first time the Nikkei index broke into the 52,000 range.
The Nikkei's one-month gain was 16.6%, the second-highest monthly rise since 1976. The record high for the monthly gain was about 20% in Oct. 1990.
The Nikkei's strong performance is seen as stemming from the rise to power of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has advocated aggressive fiscal expansion. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on the 4th.
Nikkei reported, "Overseas investors reacted the most to policy expectations," adding, "From the first week of Oct. over four weeks, foreign investors were net buyers of more than 3 trillion yen in stocks."
Last month, the Nikkei index recorded the third-highest gain among Group of 20 (G20) benchmark indices. During this period, Argentina (58%) and Korea (20%) ranked first and second in gains.
While stock prices rose on expectations that the Japanese government would pursue active fiscal policy, the yen weakened. The yen-dollar exchange rate at one point the same day surged to the mid-154-yen-per-dollar level, sending the yen to its lowest level in about eight months since Feb. In response, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said at a news conference after the Cabinet meeting on the 31st of last month, "We are watching with high vigilance the excessive volatility and disorderly movements in the foreign exchange market," in remarks seen as verbal intervention to check the market.