"Asian Stocks" Japan's central bank raises interest rates as scheduled, Nikkei rebounds by 567 points in half a day, SoftBank rises nearly 5%, Takeda Pharmaceutical performs well

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, to 0.75%, the highest level in nearly 30 years. The yen fell 0.4% during the Asian session, with the dollar rising to 156.1 yen. The Nikkei index reversed its decline from the previous day, opening up 386 points this morning (19th) and expanding its gains, rising as much as 584 points to a high of 49,257 points; it rose 567 points or nearly 1.2% at midday, closing near the high at 49,568 points.

Blue-chip stocks lifted the market, with SoftBank (9984.JP) up 4.9% and semiconductor equipment stock Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) up 2.9%. Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.JP) rose 3.1% at midday, following its announcement on the 18th that its AI-assisted development of a psoriasis treatment drug had achieved success in two late-stage studies. Tokyo Electric Power Company (9501.JP) and Sony (6758.JP) fell against the trend, down 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively.

Automobile stocks were favored, with Mitsubishi Motors (7211.JP), Nissan (7201.JP), and Honda (7267.JP) rising slightly by 0.3% to 0.6%, Toyota (7203.JP) up 1.7%, and Mazda (7261.JP) up 3.4%.

Heavy industry stocks showed mixed results, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP) and IHI Corp (7013.JP) each rising by 2.6% to 3.4%, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP) fell slightly by 0.2%. Nippon Steel (5401.JP) rose 1.7%.

Video game stocks were soft against the trend, with Konami (9766.JP) and Nintendo (7974.JP) down 1.6% to 2.1% at midday