Tokyo investors to eye geopolitical risks

Tokyo investors will be watching the crises in Ukraine and Iraq while focusing on key economic indicators in Japan and the United States next week. ’Japanese stocks extended their winning streak this week partially because geopolitical concerns were subdued,’ said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at the investment strategy section of Daiwa Securities. ‘If geopolitical concerns continue to decrease, it will be a positive factor,’ Sato said, ‘but if the concerns revive, it may bring a negative impact.’ Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko will meet with top EU officials in Belarus next week. Poroshenko's office said the leaders would use the August 26 meeting to discuss ways to stabilise the situation in eastern Ukraine, energy security and Kiev's new trade deal with the European Union, which Russia has opposed. In Iraq, the OPEC oil cartel's second largest producer, Islamist militants who have overrun large swathes of the country's north and west are now being pinned back by US military strikes that began on August 8. ‘Players will also focus on economic indicators’ such as US housing-related figures to be released next week. That comes after shares jumped on Tuesday when statistics showed US housing starts leaped 15.7 per cent in July, Sato said, according to AFP.