Japanese stocks began 2016 on a lower note on Monday (January 4), playing catch-up to falls in U.S. stocks in the last two sessions during Japan’s market holidays.
The Nikkei benchmark started the first trade of the year down 1 percent at 18818.58. The Nikkei gained around 9 percent last year.
In May last year, the Nikkei average surpassed 20,000 for the first time in 15 years, and in August the total value of the listed companies’ shares hit the record 609 trillion yen, exceeding the level Japan had before the economic bubble collapsed decades ago.
In a ceremony to kick off the year at Tokyo Stock Exchange, CEO of Japan Exchange Group Akira Kiyota attributed the bullish 2015 to the business leaders and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic leadership.
“It’s the result of the relentless effort by the management of listed companies, as well as the energetic drive of ‘Abenomics’ to increase the value of Japanese companies,” he said.
Kiyota also said enhancing investors’ trust is one of the challenges that the stock exchange faced in the new year.
“It’s absolutely necessary to maintain market order so that investors can invest without worry,” he said.
The highlight of the ceremony was opening bells, rung by young women clad in Japanese traditional kimono. It concluded with members of the TSE and dozens of invited guests performing a celebratory and traditional three rounds of hand-clapping.
One of the kimono-clad women said she hoped 2016 would be a more robust year financially.
“There will be a lot of difficulties posed by the world economy, but I hope the Nikkei will regain the 20,000 yen level to make 2016 a good year for everyone,” said Chiyuki Okura, a new graduate employee of Japan Exchange Group, the company managing the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (Reuters)