Japanese Shares Close Higher
The Nikkei 225 added 89.03 points or 0.31% to 28635.21 on Wednesday, following losses of 0.96% yesterday as investors cheered news that the IMF raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2021, saying the coronavirus-triggered downturn last year would be nearly a full percentage point less severe than expected. On the coronavirus front, President Yoshihide Suga admitted Japan's medical system has been ill-prepared to deal with the surge in COVID-19 patients, acknowledging that more lives may have been saved had proper treatment been available, as Japan reported 3850 fresh novel coronavirus infections Tuesday. Among individual stocks, Nitto Denko jumped 7.91% after it raised its annual operating profit forecast to US$867.89 million. In local data, the index of leading economic indicators increased to 96.4 in November, the highest reading since February 2019, while the index of coincident economic indicators was revised lower to 89.
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