Japanese companies posted their largest earnings beat in five years despite soaring oil costs, fueling hopes that strong profit growth across sectors can broaden the market rally beyond artificial intelligence-related trades.
Some 71% of local firms reported profits that exceeded analyst forecasts in the three months ended June, Bloomberg data showed, with aggregate net income at the 500 biggest companies topping ?21 trillion ($132 billion), eclipsing the previous record of about ?18 trillion notched a year ago.
Profitability also improved sharply, with Topix companies projected to post record margins of 9.3%, the highest level since the collection of comparable data began more than three decades ago.
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