TOKYO -- Japan's big three mobile phone carriers have seen their stock prices take off lately, buoyed by expectations that the new iPhones will entice consumers to loosen their purse strings and help bring an end to stubborn deflationary pressure.
The tide appears to be turning for telecom stocks. KDDI shares rose for a third trading day Monday, reclaiming the 3,000-yen mark for the first time in about six weeks. SoftBank Group also climbed to a two-month high. The gains in these two high-priced stocks helped send the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average to its highest in about two years before ending the day up 0.50% at 20,397.
