Nikkei Soars, Yen Plunges as LDP Election Goes to Runoff

Tokyo, Sept. 27 (Jiji Press)--Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average extended gains and the yen plunged past 146 per dollar on Friday afternoon as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election went to a runoff between Sanae Takaichi and Shigeru Ishiba.

The Nikkei average briefly soared to 39,777.33 at 2:25 p.m., up 851.70 points, or 2.19 pct, from Thursday's close, after ending the morning session at 38,964.65, up 39.02 points, or 0.10 pct.

The dollar topped 146 yen for the first time in about three week shortly past 2 p.m. It stood at 145.78-79 yen at 2 p.m., up from 145.02-03 yen at 5 p.m. the previous day.

Takaichi, who currently serves as Japan's economic security minister, is believed to be negative about interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.

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