A bird’s eye view of central Tokyo including Tokyo Tower at sunrise time.
Vladimir Zakharov | Moments | Getty Images
Japanese stocks soared to record highs on Monday, leading the region’s gains following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landmark election victory.
According to a report from public broadcaster NHK, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party won a two-thirds majority in the 465-member House of Representatives.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average rose by 5.6% to reach 57,337, and TOPIX also rose by more than 3%, also hitting an all-time high.
Sree Kochugovindan, senior research economist at Aberdeen Investments, said Takaichi’s decisive victory would be the “best outcome” for the market in the medium term, as strategic investments and tax reforms boost share prices.
Japanese stocks have hit several highs in the past few months, driven by the so-called “high market trade” as the prime minister’s economic policies, seen as a continuation of Abenomics’ focus on growth, are pushing up stock prices, while the market expects the yen to weaken as the prime minister pushes for monetary easing and increased government spending.
Performance of Japanese stocks over the past year
As of 8:11 p.m. ET Sunday, the real estate sector led the Nikkei Stock Average, rising more than 7%, followed by the healthcare and industrial sectors, according to LSEG data.
Japanese internet company CyberAgent rose more than 16% to be the index’s top gainer. Semiconductor equipment maker Advantest soared more than 12%, while Sumitomo Electric Industries rose more than 11%.
The Japanese yen rose to 156.88 yen against the dollar. The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds rose nearly 4 basis points to 2.274%, while the yield on 20-year government bonds rose about 3 basis points to 3.158%.
Credit Agricole CIB echoed Takaichi’s post-victory note, saying Takaichi’s government is backed by a clear public mandate and is gaining momentum in pursuing a major shift towards proactive fiscal policy.
US President Donald Trump congratulated Takaichi on his victory in a post on TruthSocial.
“She is a highly respected and extremely popular leader. Sanae’s bold and wise decision to call an election has paid off in a big way,” he wrote. “The wonderful people of Japan who voted with such enthusiasm will continue to strongly support me.”
The election follows the political turmoil of last year, when the Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in the House of Councilors, and the political upheaval that followed a defeat in the House of Representatives in 2024 that led then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to resign in September.
Other Asian markets also rose, with South Korea’s Kospi up 4.15% and the small-cap Kosdaq up 2.97%.
australian S&P/ASX 200 The stock rose 1.65% in early trading.
hong kong Hang Seng Index The index’s last close was 26,559.95, while the futures’ price was 27,053.
US futures edged higher in early Asian hours.
Last Friday, stocks soared in the United States as tech stocks recovered from days of intense selling in the sector, while Bitcoin rebounded following a sell-off that saw the popular cryptocurrency drop more than 50% from its highs last October.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,206.95 points, or 2.47%, to close at 50,115.67. On Friday, the Dow exceeded the 50,000 level for the first time. The S&P 500 Index rose 1.97% to end at 6,932.30, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.18% to 23,031.21. These moves put the S&P 500 back in the green heading into 2026.
Despite Friday’s decline, the S&P 500 is down 0.1% for the week and the Nasdaq is down 1.8% for the week. The Dow 30 has gained 2.5% since the start of the week, benefiting from rotation into some cyclical stocks, even as the sell-off in tech stocks weighed on the broader market.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
