Japan’s stock benchmark Nikkei advanced to a new three-month high on Wednesday as a rapidly weakening yen and investor fear of missing out a rally boosted automakers and other cyclical sectors.

The Nikkei average gained 1.2% to 22,581.74 by the midday break, after touching its fresh intraday high since Feb. 25 earlier in the session. The broader Topix rose 0.6% to 1,597.18 by the midday recess, with all but six of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange trading higher.

The yen rapidly weakened overnight against both the U.S. dollar and the euro, on optimism the worst of the economic downturn from the COVID-19 crisis is over as well as on hopes of additional support from the European policymakers.

The dollar/yen hit a two-month high of 108.850 yen, while the euro/yen hit a 4 1/2-month high of 121.805 yen on early Wednesday.

Source : Reuters