Strategists Rush to Lift Nikkei Year-End Targets on Growth Hopes

Strategists from Japan’s largest brokerages are raising their targets for the Nikkei 225 Stock Average on the view that the newly elected ruling party leader Sanae Takaichi will unleash large-scale stimulus and push the blue-chip benchmark past its record high.

Corporate profits should increase under Takaichi, Nomura Securities Co. strategists wrote in a note on Wednesday, boosting its year-end targets on the Nikkei 225 by at least 10%. Daiwa Securities Co, also raised its view, as with smaller rival SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. Swiss wealth management company Julius Baer Group Ltd. adjusted its forecast.