The Nikkei average rose 0.29 percent on Tuesday as some blue chip stocks such as Honda Motor Co Ltd and Tokyo Electron Ltd recovered in reaction to the previous day's steep declines and Fanuc Ltd extended gains after raising its full-year forecast.
"It's a typical rebound after a fall of 300 points in the Nikkei the previous day," said Akio Yoshino, general manager at Societe Generale Asset Management. Toshiba Corp may be in focus on Wednesday as Japan's second-largest electronics conglomerate after Hitachi Ltd said after the market closed that its first-half net profit more than doubled and raised its annual profit forecast to above a market consensus.
"There's no big surprise, but I think the earnings confirmed relative firmness in Toshiba versus its rivals," such as Hitachi or NEC Corp, said Shozui Kobayashi, assistant fund manager at United Investments Co.
Also after the market closed, Hitachi posted a bigger loss in the six months to September, dragged down by its hard disk drive (HDD) and energy segments. During the regular session, the Nikkei rose 47.54 points to close at 16,399.39. The broader TOPIX index fell 0.20 percent to 1,617.42. On Monday, the Nikkei had slid 317.22 points as soft US quarterly growth data and sluggish Japanese industrial output fuelled worries about a slowdown in Japan.
Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities, said the Nikkei's gain was muted relative to its 1.9 percent slide the previous day, its biggest one-day percentage drop in nearly three months. "That's because the momentum of earnings growth is not as strong as expected," Hirano said. Trade volume fell to the lowest level in a week, with 1.63 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section. Advancing shares beat decliners 906 to 649.
Shares of Mitsubishi, Japan's biggest trading firm, fell 0.9 percent to 2,260 yen. It said on Tuesday its first-half net profit grew 32 percent on high oil and non-ferrous metal prices, and raised its annual profit outlook by 8 percent. The shares fell even though the new forecast was above the market consensus by 8 billion yen.
Similarly, shares of Eisai Co Ltd lost 0.8 percent to 5,990 yen. Japan's fourth-largest drug maker said on Tuesday first-half profit rose 10 percent on strong sales of its Alzheimer's drug and lifted its full-year outlook, bringing it in line with market expectations.
Shares of TDK Corp fell 1.2 percent to 9,150 yen after brokerage UBS downgraded its rating on the electronic components maker to "neutral 2" from "buy 2" and lowered its target price by 2,000 yen to 9,500 yen. Honda, Japan's third-biggest auto maker, rose 0.2 percent to 4,140 yen, trimming the previous day's 3.3 percent fall.
Semiconductor production equipment maker Tokyo Electron added 1.4 percent to 8,740 yen after falling 5 percent on Monday. Industrial robot maker Fanuc extended gains after raising its full-year forecast. Shares of Fanuc jumped 6.2 percent to 10,150 yen, adding to an advance of 1 percent in the previous session.
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