The uranium miner-focused exchange traded fund is heating up as the Japanese government reversed plans to shift away from atomic energy for good, revealing a new nuclear energy plan Tuesday.
The Global X Uranium ETF (NYSEArca: URA) rose 4.2% Wednesday. The ETF has jumped 11.7% since the close Monday, breaking above its 200-day moving average on almost seven times the average daily volume. [Uranium, Nuclear ETFs Heat Up as Japan Turns on Reactors]
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration announced details of the new Basic Energy Plan, which designated atomic energy as an integral part in meeting the country’s long-term electricity needs, reports Hiroko Tabuchi for the New York Times.
The energy plan outlines steps to restart reactors that were closed following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in 2011 and overturns a promise by the previous administration to phase out the country’s nuclear reactors.
Additionally, the plan hints at the possibility of adding new plants, along with restarting the old ones.
“To put it out now in black and white is very encouraging,” Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) Chief Executive Officer Tim Gitzel said in a Bloomberg article. “The process is unfolding as we thought it would, it’s just taking longer” than expected.