Japan’s Market Surges, but Analysts Worry of Looming Trouble -<br />By JONATHAN SOBLEJUNE 2, 2017<br />TOKYO — Japan’s main stock index surged to an 18-month high on Friday, breaking the 20,000 level for the first time since late 2015.<br />Buoyed by robust global demand, earnings at publicly traded Japanese companies during the most recent fiscal<br />year, which ended in March, rose to their highest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis.<br />A strong American economy has also pushed global markets higher, and any sign<br />that the pace of growth in the United States was slowing could undercut those advances.<br />But analysts have raised concerns that the rally could soon lose steam, arguing<br />that company earnings have been bolstered by tax cuts rather than improved bottom lines.<br />The benchmark Nikkei average gained 1.6 percent on Friday to close at 20,177, the first time it topped the symbolic 20,000 mark since December 2015.<br />Shares have surged on the back of stronger economic growth in Japan and in the United States, as well as improved corporate profits.
