Japan's Nikkei share average rose 1.4 percent on Tuesday as exporters gained on a weaker yen, but volume was thin due to a lack of participants during the Christmas holiday. The Nikkei gained 140.06 points at 10,080.12, nearing a nine-month intraday high of 10,175.16 hit on Friday. The market may stay upbeat until the year end as the yen stays weak, raising hopes that exporters will report better-than-expected earnings for the coming year, analysts said.
--- More global funds add Japan shares - analyst
Exporters led the gains, with Honda Motor Co adding 1.0 percent, Fanuc Ltd rising 2.2 percent and Canon Inc rising 2.1 percent. "Most investors have covered their short positions on Japanese stocks, but there are some global funds which are still adding Japanese stocks because they think there is a risk of not having Japanese stocks for the coming months," said Kenichi Hirano, a strategist at Tachibana Securities.
The dollar last traded at 84.83 yen, having risen as high as 84.965 yen on Tuesday morning, its highest level since April 2011. A weak yen boosts exporters' overseas earnings when repatriated. Shinzo Abe, who is set to become prime minister on Wednesday, renewed pressure on the Bank of Japan to adopt a higher inflation target. Abe said he would try to revise a law guaranteeing the BOJ's independence if his demand for a binding 2 percent inflation target - double its current goal - is not met.
After rising 16.4 percent over the last six weeks, hitting a nine-month high last Friday, the Nikkei is in "overbought" territory, with its 14-day relative strength index at 72.66, above 70 which is deemed the overbought threshold and signalling that a correction may be imminent. Also on Tuesday, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp added 1.7 percent after rising as much as 6.0 percent on news that the firm will buy Qualicaps Co Ltd, a drug capsule maker, from US-based Carlyle Group.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp dropped 4.0 percent after it pledged on Friday to pay a total 77.3 billion yen ($912 million) to several Japanese government agencies for overbilling for equipment and services over several decades and slashed its annual profit forecast by a quarter. The broader Topix rose 0.6 percent to 838.01 in thin trading, with 2.23 billion shares changing hands. That compares with last week's average daily trading volume of 3.53 billion shares.
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