Tokyo stocks extend gains

Tokyo stocks rose again Monday, extending the benchmark index's rise to a 12th straight day, its longest in more than a quarter of a century. The Nikkei 225 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange spent much of the day in negative territory before edging up 0.03 percent, or 6.72 points, at the close to 20,569.87. That marked its longest winning streak since a 13-day run in February 1988 during the height of Japan's stock market bubble.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.29 percent, or 4.91 points, to 1,678.56. Dealers said the market was taking an upbeat view on Japanese firms' recent earnings. Also Monday, Japan adopted a corporate governance code that backers hope will usher in a new era of transparency and nudge firms to spend some of their massive cash piles.
The changes include calling on firms to have at least two independent directors to strengthen oversight of management and improve their communication with shareholders. Issuing timely, market-sensitive information in both English and Japanese, acting in investors' interests by redeploying cash more effectively, and whistleblower protections are among the other changes. "Today's gain suggests that the market is seeing Japan's corporate performance as favourable," said Kenzaburo Suwa, strategist at Okasan Securities in Tokyo.
"But we also have to be cautious about overheating," Suwa added. Tokyo opened lower, picking up a weak lead from Wall Street, where a key consumer confidence measure came in lower and the government confirmed that the economy contracted in the first quarter. The revised GDP figure for the first quarter showed a 0.7 percent contraction, rather than an initial 0.2 percent expansion. Investors are also cautiously watching Europe, with no deal in sight in Greece's long-running bailout reform talks with its international creditors.
"Concerns over Greece are looming large, while some players are keeping to the sidelines ahead of this week's US payroll figures," Suwa said. Toyota closed 0.97 percent lower to 8,520 yen, Sony fell 1.02 percent to 3822.5 yen while Japan's biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ rose 1.50 percent to 935 yen and Toshiba was up 3.28 percent to 450 yen, after the leading Nikkei business daily said the conglomerate may restore a dividend cancelled in the wake of an accounting probe. On forex markets, the dollar was at 124.19 yen, against 124.12 yen late Friday in New York. The greenback climbed to 124.46 briefly on Thursday, its highest level since December 2002.