Tokyo stocks rise

Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday as Japanese earnings season gets into full swing and as the yen weakened against the dollar on hopes for US President Donald Trump's tax cut plans. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.24 percent, or 268.67 points, to close at 22,008.45. The index jumped 2.57 percent over the week. The broader Topix index gained 0.98 percent, or 17.15 points, at 1,771.05, logging a weekly gain of 2.3 percent.
"Japanese stocks look bullish," Hiroyasu Iida, head of the investment research center at Aizawa Securities in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News. "Both in the US and Japan, companies will likely continue to have better earnings results. Good earnings results, the yen's weakness and speculation over foreign investors' purchases are fueling expectations over further gains in stocks."
House Republicans narrowly passed a budget Thursday and sent the controversial tax overhaul measure to Trump's desk, opening the way for debate over his plan that includes $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. In Tokyo, the dollar strengthened to 114.18 yen, up from 114.00 yen in New York. A weaker yen is a positive for Japanese exporters as it makes their products more competitive abroad and inflates their repatriated profits.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank began weaning the eurozone economy off the high dose of monetary support, saying it would halve its purchases of government and corporate bonds to 30 billion euros ($35 billion)a month. The ECB decision provided a "sense of relief and encouraged stock buying as it was not so hawkish as some market players had speculated it would be", Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.
In share trading, Toyota rose 0.58 percent to 7,073 yen while Nissan edged up 0.18 percent to end the day at 1,101.5 yen. Sony rose 0.21 percent to 4,279 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported its April-September operating profit likely tripled on the year owing to strong sales of smartphone components. Banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ climbed 2.75 percent to 790.9 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui rose 2.19 percent to sit at 4,619 yen.
Fujitsu, however, tumbled 6.68 percent to 847.5 yen after its six-month operating profit missed expectations. Subaru fell 2.60 percent to 3,969 yen on local media reports that uncertified employees have been inspecting some vehicles at two domestic factories before they were shipped to dealers, following a similar revelation at Nissan. Subaru declined to comment on the reports, saying an in-house probe was underway. The company will hold a press conference later in the day.