The Tokyo stock market has entered a consolidation phase since the key Nikkei average climbed past the 20,000 level early this month.
The market's topside is capped by the seasonal liquidation of cross-shareholding ties ahead of book-closings at the end of March and sales by public funds to change portfolios prompted by recent rises in stock prices.
After the new business year begins in April, the key market gauge appears likely to test the high of 22,668.80 that was scaled on June 26, 1996 -- the highest since the bursting of the late-1980s speculative bubble.