FOCUS: Tokyo stock market reaches uncharted territory, but where to next?

Investor confidence borne from record corporate profits and the prospect of Japan putting its painful period of deflation behind it, helped by companies focusing on improving shareholder returns, all drove the Nikkei stock index to its all-time high.But analysts believe the market may now consolidate, at least in the short term, before again testing new heights.The Nikkei index finished at 39,098.68 on Thursday, eclipsing 38,915.87 set on Dec. 29, 1989, when Japan was in the midst of an asset price bubble that ultimately set the market back by decades when it burst.The index has gained near…READ FULL ARTICLE