ELECTION BOOST

A man walks past an electronic board showing the stock market indices of various countries outside a brokerage in Tokyo yesterday. Japanese stocks rose as investors held out hope for more robust growth after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delayed a tax hike and called an early election to seek a fresh mandate for his aggressive policies to shore up the economy. Abe would delay raising the consumption levy originally planned for next October by 18 months, he said at a press conference on Tuesday. Parliament will be dissolved tomorrow. The vote would probably be December 14, said people with knowledge of the ruling party’s strategy. Japanese stocks tend to rise after elections are called. In 11 elections since 1980, the Topix index has posted average total returns of 3.1 percent between the dissolution of parliament and the vote, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Daiwa Securities Group. – Bloomberg