Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell by 4.9% this week, the Topix fell by 5.6%.Annual inflation in the euro area remained unchanged at 2.5% in June.
After the bank's decision, the Topix stockmarket index closed at a 15-year record, hitting heights not seen since Japan's slide into deflation.
Tokyo's broad Topix index sank to a new low for the year.In this section MONEY AND INTEREST RATES COMPANY MERGERS TRADE, EXCHANGE RATES AND BUDGETS STOCKMARKETS Reprints.
The Topix index, a broader, weighted measure, does not show shares on quite such a tear.
Since around a quarter of the 1,891 firms in the Topix index currently fail to achieve it, their bosses could face significant votes against them in the annual shareholder-meeting season, later this month.
Yet Japan's Topix index has almost doubled in the past three years, European equities are up by more than 50% and America's S&P 500, despite a sluggish 2005, has risen by 46% (see chart).
ANOTHER sharp fall in Japan's stockmarket this morning (5.2% on the Nikkei, 3.8% on the Topix) raises broader questions about the euphoria that greeted the introduction of Abenomics.
But Stockholm hit a record high, and Japan's Topix reached a high for the year.In this section MONEY AND INTEREST RATES STOCKMARKETS TRADE, EXCHANGE RATES AND BUDGETS NEW BUSINESSES Reprints.
The Topix, a broader index, was also up, though still near a two-year low.If the respite is short, it spells trouble for Japan's banks.
Yet since the market bottomed in the spring of 2003, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's broad-based Topix index has nearly doubled, to four-year highs.
Between the start of 2003 and its peak on March 9th, Japan's Topix stockmarket index rose by 35%, all because of foreign buying: domestic investors sold all the way up.
