ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. we'll hear from him in a few hours' time. >>> it's time for "view from the top," where business leaders explain how they stay ahead of the competition. today we hear from elon musk, the pioneering ceo of u.s. electric carmaker tesla motors. musk has turned his attention to other ventures, including commercial space exploration. these days, he's been busy promoting batteries strong enough to power your home. musk also wants to make his mark in japan. nhk world's rosa sabrino has this report. >> reporter: the innovative tech entrepreneur recently surprised the world with a bold announcement, he announced tesla will manufacturer rechargeable batteries that can supply household energy needs. >> we have to come up with the solution. that's the missing piece. as that's the thing that's needed to have a proper transition to a sustainable energy world. >> reporter: demand for home batteries is rising around the world, for use as an emergency backup power source and to store surplus electricit

we are joined by ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. what are you seeing this tuesday morning? >> good morning, ai. we are seeing investors taking a note from the selloff we saw in the u.s. with the nikkei slightly lower and the dollar, however is in the 120-yen range. let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix are kicking off tuesday may 12th. the nikkei is lower and the topix is up .1%. the nikkei may be supported by the view the u.s. economy is on a path to recovery and shares may also be supported after china cut key rates for a third time in six months in a bid to shore up its committee. the question is when will the u.s. raise its key interest rates and if further economic stimulus measures may come from china. head winds remain with regards to greece as finance ministers met yet again to discuss funding for greece. and let's not forget asian markets may be a big focus. shanghai composite was the star performer and that jumped up 3% after the rate cut by the central bank bouncing back after falling over 5%. let's not forget las

we go to ramin mellegard for that, he's standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. what are you seeing so far this morning? >> very good morning to you. a bit of a mixed ending in the u.s. markets, but pretty positive all around here in tokyo. let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and the topix. 20,195, up 0.8% for the nikkei the broader topix up 0.75%. just a reminder overnight the dow jones industrial average posted an awe-time high inching up 0.07%. the tech-heavy nasdaq did fall. investors were cheered by the u.s. april housing starts that were the highest since 2007. that pushed bond yields higher and the dollar higher. and a solid recovery in the u.s. may just be on the cards. now, in sharp contrast and a point investors will be concerned about was the opposite in eurozone. you're looking at german bonds there. investor confidence data showed a sharp fall for may in germany which caused a sell-off in the euro and bond yields falling as well. investors rushing into the safety of bond. domestically we've been covering earnings for the past two w

ramin mellegard joins us from the tokyo stock exchange. we have had a few days off this week in japan. investors will be playing catch up this morning. >> very good morning to you, ai. investors playing catch up and the saying sell in may and go away is playing out in the u.s. european and asian indexes while tokyo has been closed. a lot of nervous investors out there. looking at the nikkei and topix, the nikkei is down now over 120 points. we'll see how that goes throughout the morning. and last friday we closed out trading on a cautious note and for the week last week the index was down 2.4%. and considering the stock market losses in the u.s. and europe that is playing out right now. rising crude oil benchmark prices and higher bond yields also seem to be the driving forces for market players. and oil, having a look at that rose to its highest level in a year this week. oil inventories fell for the first time in 17 weeks. and a private sector jobs data was down for a fifth straight month. we should be aware that further negative sentime

ramin mellegard joins us with that and is at the tokyo stock exchange. what are you seeing so far? >> a lot of eyes and ears on that fed minutes and the big focus there. but a little bit of caution due to yemen which caused a bit of a spike in crude oil price. but let's see how it is affecting the nikkei and the topix. both in the positive there. overnight on wall street the fed minutes caused stocked to go up briefly. looking at the dow jones industrial average and the nasdaq there. the dow jones and the nasdaq there. the nikkei rose to its highest level. however, some analysts still suggest that the pace of growth needs to be boosted. and a lot of focus now on what the bank of japan may do or steps it may take at its policy meeting which of course kicks off today and wraps up on friday. the latest assessment of japan's economy describes it as being in a moderate recovery trend and a lot of investors want to see if the boj upgrades that view which the government did back in march. they want to see if that will go step for step and that's going to be a big focus. >> and looks like

we go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. what are you seeing so far this morning? >> caution really definitely the main word or the keyword for a lot of investors today after we saw equity bond and a lot of other assets reserving from the day before. oil prices also. and really investors waiting for the u.s. jobs data as well. a note of caution playing through the markets. let's look at how the nikkei and the topix are playing through this friday may 8th here in tokyo. both are in the positive. we're not seeing massive moves just yet. the nikkei ended at its lowest level in a month. and investors despite the gains an wall street may decide to continue on a note of caution. we saw a dip in crude oil price and the transport sector in the u.s. was one of the top performers. i'll be watching out for related shares here today. >> in currencies we saw the dollar pop higher against the euro and the yen. where are they trading now? >> we saw action from the data dollar gained on the weekly jobless claims which showed a reversal in the private sector jobs data and that puts

we go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning and happy friday. what are you seeing on the final day of the week? >> a lot of investors are asking the question of when the federal reserve may actually raise rates given the fact that data releases out of the u.s. have largely disappointed a lot of investors, pushing back their estimation for a rise in interest rates. so that's clouding the market somewhat. but let's have a look at how the nikkei and the topix are opening. a negative open so far. both indexes trading lower. we'll see how thats develops in the morning session it notched up a fresh 15-year highs. and that's the longest winning streak for around three months. let's see if we can maintain that today. head winds may come from manufacturing data out of the u.s. and china which shows that growth is not as robust as a lot of investors would like to see for the world's first and second biggest economies and that's a little bit of a concern playing into the markets. the philadelphia fed manufacturing index for instance on thursday marking a f

and ramin mellegard joins us from the tokyo stock, exchange. how are markets reacting? >> a lot for investors to take in there as you went over some of the data. but impact from the u.s. markets which fell on thursday. but let's have a look at how friday morning stocks here in tokyo are reacting on may 1st. a negative start for the nikkei and the topics. the nikkei had its biggest one-day fall on thursday following the gdp data on wednesday. still a lot of analysts degree the disappointing gdp was due to transitory factors such as freezing weather and the drop in crude oil prices and weekly jobless claims which came out on thursday went some way to alleviate some of the concerns about u.s. growth as it hit a 15-year low. also a measure of labor costs showed its biggest advance since the third quarter of 2014. so some positives there. here in japan, earnings in full swing after the markets closed yesterday. nomura holdings said profits rose 17% in the first quarter. and sony expects a turnaround this year due to major stream lining efforts. so again a little bit of a pos

ramin mellegard is here from the business desk to break it down for us. what do the futures say?>> it's all pretty encouraging data so far. why don't we start with housing. now the market managed to maintain an upturn first seen in march. at that time housing starts rose after a full year of decline and the latest figure for april extends the positive trend. land ministry officials say housing starts last month were up 0.4% from a year earlier. this say large condominium in tokyo were the main factor. the number for built for sale homes increased by over 7%. built to order houses and rental units were down by about 2%. ministry officials say demand the recovering from the declines we saw in the wake in the hike of the consumption tax in april of last year. now officials at japan's economy ministry say industrial output in april was up 1% from march. first expansion in three months. the officials attribute the rise to an increase in production of air conditioners for the domestic market and smartphone parts for china. they predict industrial output will rise again this month. they

for that we are joined by ramin mellegard. he's at the tokyo stock exchange. what are you seeing so far? >> good morning, ai. the drop in u.s. jobless claims or unemployment benefits boosted shares on wall street as you mentioned. and it's reflected in the price action here as well for the nikkei and the topix. both indexes in the positive and we'll see how that continues throughout the day. yesterday the nikkei closed down almost 1%. but a lot of earnings results have boosted sentiment for corporate japan. konica minolta rose just shy of 12% yesterday after saying it would raise its dividend and buy back a lot of shares. shares in sharp may continue to be a focus here after it announced it will receive 1.7 billion bailout from his lenders and planning to reduce its domestic work force by 3,500. nikon's profits were down 31% from last year. i'll continue to watch the shares for all those companies as well. >> and in currencies the dollar is weaker against the yen and the euro. how are the key pairs trading now? >> you mentioned the weaker dollar earlier. and t

that was a loss of about a third>>> for more, we are joined by ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning. what are you seeing so far? >> given the losses on wall street and the slight fall in the dollar it's no surprise we're seeing losses here at the open. so let's have a look at opening levels for the nikkei and the topix for today. and you can see they're both indexes trading in the negative. now just sort of quick reminder nikkei gained back the losses yesterday, small one and ending pretty much flat on the day and now following wall street lower. investors focused on positive corporate earnings. boosting market sentiment after posting the first net profit over $680 million in 5 years so that was boosting some sentiment there. electronics is the result of a merger between hitachi, mitsubishi and nec and ill really focuses a lot on the automotive chip sector of the markets and watching that sector, as well. ai? >> you mentioned the falling dollar. it does look weaker against both the yen and the euro. where are some of the pairs trading right now? >> having a look at the

. >>> let's now get a business and financial perspective on recent developments with ramin mellegard.>>> thank you very much. the dollar is on a roll. the green back touched 124 yen level overnight in new york. then it backed off a touch during early hours in tokyo but it got back its strength in the afternoon hitting a level not seen in more than 12 years. now the dollar buying spree was pretty much ignited by a comment by federal reserve chairman janet yell jones last friday. she hinted the fed is ready to raise interest rates by the end of the year if all goes well with the u.s. economy. the dollar last reached its current levels in late 2002. then in 2011 it fell as low as the 75 yen level amid lingering effect of the global financial crisis and european credit woes. the trend reversed as japan entered monetary easing. now to get more insight on that we're going to speak with the chief japan affects strategist at bank of america merrill lynch, global research. a lot going on here with the dollar/yen, obviously focussing a lot of attention. what is your view on this current situati

there to see how wall street performance is affecting markets here in tokyo, ramin mellegard joins us from the tokyo stock exchange. how are things looking? >> positive here. record highs set in the u.s. and higher bond yields and the dollar rose as well. that should be a boost for exporters here. let's have a look at the nikkei. we are reaching levels we haven't seen since april 28th and i'm talking about just about touching the 20,000 level. we were one point shy of that. we'll see how that develops in the morning session. the nikkei ended at the highest level in three weeks on monday. investors looking more to returned talking about dividendance buybacks as a sign of strength. insurers propelled on monday and today might be the turn of non-life insurers media reports said all three major non-life insurers in japan including tokyo marine holdings are expected to show record profits. analysts pointing to stronger returns in auto insurance, lower benefit payouts and a lot of overseas acquisitions by non-life insurers in japan. also in the tech sector apple shares rose 1% in new york.