Tokyo stocks ended 0.38 percent higher Tuesday, boosted by a surge in factory robotics giant Fanuc, while investors await earnings by major Japanese firms and a US Federal Reserve policy meeting. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 75.63 points to 20,058.95, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.52 percent, or 8.36 points, at 1,627.43. A drop in the yen has lifted hopes for another round of bumper earnings as reporting season gets into full swing.
The dollar rose to 119.08 yen in Asia, from 119.05 yen in New York. The Fed's policy arm on Wednesday finishes up a two-day meeting and investors will be looking for an idea about when it plans to hike interest rate. Markets largely shrugged off an announcement late Monday that Fitch cut its credit rating on heavily indebted Japan by one notch, citing concerns about Tokyo's budget after it delayed a sales tax rise originally slated for later this year.
That came as fresh data Tuesday showed retail sales in March fell 9.7 percent from a year ago, the biggest fall since 1998 and underscoring weakness in the world's number three economy. In Tokyo share trading, market heavyweight Fanuc jumped 3.30 percent to 27,685.0 yen after the industrial robot maker said it would double its dividend. Mitsubishi UFJ crept up 0.54 percent to 855.7 yen after the Nikkei business daily said Japan's biggest bank would post an industry record-breaking annual profit of 1.0 trillion yen.
Tokyo Electron plunged 14.81 percent to 6,557.0 yen after the semiconductor equipment maker and US rival Applied Materials said Monday they cancelled a multi-billion-dollar merger after US competition regulators opposed the deal. Canon fell 3.26 percent to 4,358.5 yen. The camera and copier giant said Monday its profits fell nearly 29 percent in the three months to March because of falling camera demand as consumers turn to picture-taking smartphones.
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