Japan’s Nikkei stock index breaks its 1989 record and surges to an all-time high

BANGKOK (AP) — Japan’s Nikkei 225 share benchmark surged Thursday to an all-time high, bypassing its previous record set in December 1989 on heavy buying by global investors.

By early afternoon it was up 1.9% at 38,997.23. The Nikkei 225’s previous record was 38,915.87, set just before Japan’s bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s.

Japanese shares have logged sharp gains in recent months, helped by strong interest from foreign investors who account for the majority of trading volume on the Tokyo exchange.

Record gains in corporate earnings have enhanced the appeal of shares in Japanese companies. The weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar has also attracted investors, despite prolonged weakness in the economy, which slipped back into a technical recession late last year

Elsewhere in Asia, shares were mixed.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 16,452.34 and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher, to 2,952.76.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.1% at 7,598.00, while the Kospi in Seoul added 0.2% to 2,659.21.

On Wednesday, stocks ended mostly higher on Wall Street after a listless day of trading with big technology stocks again acting as a heavy weight on the market.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 4,981.80. The benchmark index spent much of the day in losing territory before climbing higher just before markets closed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also eked out a slight gain after losing ground most of the day. It rose 0.1%, to 38,612.24.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%, to 15,580.87.

Earnings remained the big focus. After markets closed, Nvidia reported earnings and revenue that handily beat Wall Street forecasts. The chipmaker has tripled over the past year thanks to a surge in