Japanese stocks climbed to a two-week high on Tuesday as trading houses such as Itochu Corp rose on strong metals prices and big-name exporters were snapped up by individual investors.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and other banks also gained, boosting the overall market, after their European peers rose on a report that Qatar has bought shares in Credit Suisse and plans to spend as much as $15 billion on European and US bank stocks over the next year.
The benchmark Nikkei hit a high of 13,853, its highest since February 5, before paring gains to close at 13,757.91, a rise of 0.9 percent. The broader TOPIX closed up 0.9 percent at 1,345.29. Itochu surged after Nikko Citigroup raised its net profit forecast and lifted its target price, citing expectations for a spike in iron ore and coal prices.
Japanese steelmakers agreed on Monday to iron-ore price rises of 65 percent to 71 percent this year, depending on the ore grade. "Oil prices remain high, and there was the rise in iron ore prices just yesterday. Plus, many of these companies had really strong earnings results," said Yumi Nishimura, manager at the investment advisory section of Daiwa Securities SMBC. Canon Inc and other big-name exporters also climbed, buoyed by what some in the market said was active buying by individual investors.
"They seem to feel reassured that the market has hit the bottom, so they're buying up big-name and other 'thematic' sorts of stocks," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities. "This is helping to create such a positive mood in the market that it merely shrugs off bad news - poor results, say - as negative factors being played out, whereas a month ago this would have sparked selling."
Itochu, which rose 7.9 percent to 1,167 to touch its highest level since November, gained after Nikko Citigroup said it now expects Itochu to achieve a net profit of 270 billion yen in the business year starting from April, up from a previous estimate of 230 billion yen.
Oil steadied on Tuesday but still clung near $96, while platinum hit a new record and gold rose to $908.3-/909.10 from $903.00/903.80 late in London. US markets were closed on Monday for a holiday. Marubeni Corp rose 4.8 percent to 809 yen and Sojitz gained 3.3 percent to 402 yen. Mitsubishi Corp climbed 4.4 percent to 3,290 yen.
Positive sentiment towards banks carried over from European trade, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rising 3.7 percent to 961 yen and No 2 bank Mizuho Financial Group up 5.4 percent at 449,000 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 3 percent to 793,000 yen.
Big-name exporters rose despite an advance in the yen that took the dollar below 108 yen. Canon gained 4.2 percent to 4,930 yen to become the greatest booster of the Nikkei by index weight.
Honda Motor Corp rose 3.7 percent to 3,410 yen and Toyota Motor Corp was up 1.8 percent at 6,310 yen. Trade was moderate, with 2.14 billion shares changing hands, compared with last week's average of 2.19 billion. Advancing shares beat decliners by more than two to one.
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