Nikkei average rises

The Nikkei average clawed up 0.7 percent on Wednesday on window-dressing before the end of Japan's financial first half, but it pared earlier gains as the yen's strength revived and resistance held strong. An additional boost came from a poor December outlook in the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey of business sentiment, which some market players said could increase expectations the central bank will discuss easing monetary policy further at a meeting next week.
This week also marks the end of the April-September first half in Japan, and some analysts said window-dressing, or buying by fund managers of some of the quarter's better performers to improve their books, likely provided help. The benchmark Nikkei ended up 63.62 points at 9,559.38, while the broader Topix gained 0.5 percent to 846.97.
The Nikkei has gained about 8 percent this month, its best monthly performance since March, helped by short-covering in exporter shares after intervention by Japanese authorities to weaken the yen two weeks ago. But for the July-September quarter, the benchmark's rise is only about 2 percent, lagging other major stock markets. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan has gained about 17 percent during the same period. The Federal Reserve is likely preparing a fresh round of quantitative easing steps to be announced at the end of its November 2-3 meeting, a report by influential hedge fund adviser Medley Global Advisors said on Tuesday, a market source told Reuters.
The Nikkei's worst performer on Wednesday was Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which tumbled 7.8 percent to 2,105 yen after media reported that Asia's largest utility was planning a share issue worth several billion dollars to fund investments.
Japanese manufacturers' confidence improved for a sixth straight quarter, the BOJ's tankan survey showed, but they turned negative on the outlook in a sign of the stronger yen's threat to a fragile economic recovery. Exporters rose, with Canon Inc rising 1.7 percent to 3,945 yen and Sony Corp up 2 percent at 2,645 yen. Elpida Memory Inc surged 8.1 percent to 985 yen after the company said it would start mass production of advance DRAM chips in December, putting it ahead of bigger rival Samsung Electronics in technology.
Nintendo Co turned negative and fell 3.7 percent to 23,010 yen after the game maker said its launch of a 3D-capable version of its DS handheld game console would be in February in Japan and March in the United States, missing the crucial holiday season. Trade was moderate with some 1.75 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by about 5 to 1.