Tokyo shares seen testing 10,000 mark next week

Tokyo shares will next week test the 10,000 points level as investors eye firms' recovery from the March 11 disasters, ahead of the Bank of Japan's "tankan" business survey, dealers said Friday. In the week to June 24, the Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 327.31 points or 3.5 percent to 9,678.71. The Topix index of all first section shares gained 27.86 points, or 3.5 percent, to 833.20.
"Share prices are getting near the point where profit-taking may start kicking in," said Masatoshi Sato, senior strategist at Mizuho Investors Securities, noting the Nikkei index gained more than 300 points in the week.
"But trading volume was also thin this week. I think investors next week will wait and see for some incentives, such as the tankan report," he said. The Bank of Japan plans to release the business sentiment report for the second quarter next Friday.
Sato said he expected the Nikkei index will test 10,000 next week adding however "it will still be difficult to comfortably stay over the line".
Dealers have grown optimistic about a faster-than-expected recovery in supply chains in Japan after the March earthquake and tsunami, as underscored by relatively solid automaker earnings forecasts.
Shigeru Matsumura, an auto analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center, said Nissan Motor's new business plan due Monday may represent a fresh buying catalyst. "There are expectations that Nissan will change its dividend policy to reflect sustainable growth in profits," he told Dow Jones Newswires. Nissan said Thursday that it expected annual net profit to fall due to the March disaster but global sales to rise 9.9 percent in the year to 4.6 million units.
News that Greece had agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union on a five-year austerity programme in a bid to ease the nation's debt crisis also encouraged investors, dealers said.
Mizuho's Sato noted that global economic sentiment will be supported by lower oil prices after the International Energy Agency's decision to release 60 million barrels of oil onto world markets.