Tokyo stock prices appear poised to rebound strongly on bargain hunting.

The 225-issue Nikkei average stayed in a holding pattern through much of last week but is now widely expected to snap out of the doldrums and test the 17,500 level by the end of March.

The price-to-earnings ratio of companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is estimated at the lower 20s on average, comparable with the level of October 1998 when the Tokyo market hit its bottom after the bursting of the late-1980s asset-inflated economic bubble.