Tokyo stocks soar

Tokyo stocks rose 1.23 percent Wednesday after a record-breaking rally on Wall Street fuelled by expectations the US Federal Reserve will maintain its aggressive stimulus drive at a meeting later in the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 176.37 points to 14,502.35, while the Topix index of all first section shares climbed 0.92 percent, or 11.00 points, to 1,204.50.
Shares were also supported by a stronger dollar, with the unit buying 98.20 yen against 98.17 yen in New York and 97.55 yen in Tokyo earlier Tuesday. There was the added benefit of overall global enthusiasm for equities, with solid corporate earnings supplying further buying sentiment, analysts said. "Earnings reports seem to look pretty decent so far, but the investor enthusiasm that might normally accompany it seems a bit lacking," said CLSA equity strategist Nicholas Smith.
Japan's earnings season kicks into high gear this week with Honda, Nintendo and Toshiba among the firms reporting their results Wednesday after the market's close. On Wall Street the Dow climbed 0.72 percent and the S&P 500 rose 0.56 percent, both to all-time highs, while the Nasdaq added 0.31 percent. Investors are waiting to see what Fed policymakers will say about the economy after their two-day meeting wraps up Wednesday, a key issue for the timing of any pullback on its stimulus drive.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office in December last year, has vowed to drag the country out of 15 years of deflation with active government spending coupled with huge monetary easing by the central bank. The policy blitz has helped push the yen down and boosted stock prices. A weak yen is good for Japanese exporters as it makes their products competitive abroad and increases profits when repatriated. Government data released just before the market opened showed Japanese factories boosted output in September, adding to evidence the world's third-largest economy is gathering steam.
In share trading, Honda rose 1.28 percent to 3,965 yen while Toshiba added 1.39 percent to 439 yen. Nintendo fell 1.49 percent to 11,220 yen. Mobile carrier SoftBank rose 2.04 percent to 7,520 yen, lifted by a news report that its first-half operating profit likely rose to more than 700 billion yen, a record.