Tokyo stocks close up 0.29pc

TOKYO: Tokyo shares closed lacklustre trading up 0.29 percent on Friday as investors awaited a much-anticipated speech from US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke.

The Nikkei 225 index gained 25.42 points to 8,797.78, while the broader Topix index rose 4.25 points, or 0.57 percent, to 756.07.

In early trading, the Nikkei tracked falls on Wall Street overnight, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.51 percent, but late bargain-hunting recouped its early loss.

Stocks have slumped in recent weeks amid fears of a slowing US economy and fallout from Europe's debt crisis, and investors have been waiting to see if the Fed will react by further loosening monetary policy.

Investors are unwilling to take risks ahead of the Bernanke speech to central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later Friday, said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

Analysts were now sceptical that Bernanke would endorse a further round of quantitative easing, in which the Fed buys assets from banks with electronically-generated cash to inject money into the economy.

Hirano said the much-hyped event may have a limited effect on US stocks Friday, and in turn, Japanese stocks next week, as investors have mulled different scenarios thoroughly for weeks.

"People realise more quantitative easing isn't going to be helpful. I think the market would be satisfied with just verbal support (to stimulate the economy) from Bernanke tonight," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Stock prices hardly moved after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a long-expected announcement that he would resign as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, effectively ending his tenure as Japanese leader.

A new leader, the nation's sixth prime minister in five years, is expected to be elected next week.

Exporters were firm. Sony rose 0.69 percent to end at 1,592 yen and Toyota added 0.14 percent to 2,768 yen.

Apple-related shares were mixed after the US firm closed 0.7 percent lower on Wall Street on news chief executive Steve Jobs had resigned for health reasons.

Softbank, the sole distributor in Japan of Apple's iPhone, fell 0.47 percent to 2,494.

Among Japanese companies that supply parts to Apple, Sharp rose 1.50 percent to 608 yen and Ibiden added 0.39 percent to 1,796 yen.

The market was largely unaffected by Japan's announcement of a 0.1 percent rise in its core consumer prices in July from a year earlier, the first increase in 31 months.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010