Ehime Shimbun - Economics Section - August 18, Tuesday, 2026, Reiwa8

What I Learned from Today's Economic News

The most interesting part of today's economic section was the movement of the Nikkei Stock Average on August 17.

The Nikkei Stock Average closed at 69,220.25 yen, up 506.45 yen from the previous business day. It has recovered to the 69,000-yen level and is now less than 800 yen away from 70,000 yen.

At first glance, this makes it seem as if Japanese stocks rose strongly throughout the entire day.

However, when I looked at the intraday chart, the picture was quite different.

The Nikkei started the day around 68,882 yen and fell to about 68,500 yen in the morning. It then moved up and down around the 68,500 to 68,800 yen range for much of the morning.

In the afternoon, it did not immediately break above 69,000 yen. It stayed around 68,800 to 68,900 yen for a while. Then, after around 2:00 p.m., the index began to rise strongly and finally reached around 69,200 yen near the close.

In other words, the closing price of 69,220 yen does not mean that the Nikkei was high throughout the entire day.

Rather, it means that the market was sold down during the day, recovered strongly in the afternoon, and finished very close to the day's high.

This was the most interesting thing I learned from today's newspaper.

There was another important point.

Although the Nikkei rose by more than 500 yen, the TOPIX fell by 13.09 points.

In the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market, 627 stocks rose while 891 stocks fell. In other words, more stocks fell than rose.

Looking at the 33 industry sectors, only eight sectors increased. Non-ferrous metals rose 5.24 percent, followed by marine transportation, glass and ceramics, metal products, oil and coal products, machinery, construction, and electric power and gas.

Many other sectors fell, including wholesale trade, pharmaceuticals, and pulp and paper.

This means that Japanese stocks as a whole did not rise together.

Instead, buying was concentrated in certain stocks, especially semiconductor and AI-related companies, which have a strong influence on the Nikkei.

Kioxia Holdings was particularly noticeable. It was among the top stocks in trading value and also ranked highly in the percentage gainers, rising about 15 percent.

Fujikura, Advantest, Taiyo Yuden, and Murata Manufacturing were also among the stocks with high trading value.

This helped me understand why the Nikkei could rise sharply even though many individual stocks and industries were falling.

The Nikkei Stock Average does not tell us everything about the Japanese stock market.

We need to look at the TOPIX, the number of rising and falling stocks, the performance of the 33 industry sectors, and individual stock movements as well.

Another important topic in today's economic section was long-term interest rates.

The yield on the newly issued 10-year Japanese government bond temporarily rose to 2.930 percent. This was the highest level in about 29 years and 10 months, since October 1996. It was also getting close to the important 3 percent level.

Several factors were behind the rise.

There were stronger expectations that the Bank of Japan might raise interest rates earlier than expected. The rise in long-term interest rates in the United States also affected Japan. Concerns about Japan's fiscal situation and high crude oil prices were additional factors.

When long-term interest rates rise, fixed-rate mortgage rates can also rise. This increases the burden on people buying homes.

Higher interest rates can also increase borrowing costs for companies, which may discourage companies from making new investments in factories and equipment.

The exchange rate was also around 159 yen to the US dollar, showing that the yen remained weak.

So stocks, exchange rates, and interest rates may look like separate topics, but they are closely connected.

The Nikkei was approaching 70,000 yen, while the Japanese long-term interest rate was reaching a level not seen for almost 30 years.

Today's newspaper made me realize again that a single closing price does not tell the whole story of a market.

The Nikkei's closing price of 69,220 yen was only one number.

Behind that number were the morning decline, the long period of sideways movement, and the strong rise after around 2:00 p.m.

Instead of simply looking at numbers, I want to learn to look at how the numbers move and what is happening behind them.

That was probably the most important thing I learned from today's economic section.

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