Tokyo's Nikkei hit a two-week closing high on Wednesday as favourable earnings lifted companies such as drug maker Eisai Co and Mitsubishi Electric Corp while steel makers gained on an expected rise in steel sheet prices. After the closing bell, Suzuki Motor Corp posted a 29 percent jump in quarterly operating profit and kept its forecast for another year of record earnings, confirming the market's consensus about strong earnings growth among Japanese auto makers, notably Toyota Motor Corp, which posts results on Thursday.
But Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics conglomerate, fell sharply after posting a 46 percent drop in quarterly operating profit and cutting its full-year outlook.
The Nikkei average rose 0.2 percent to 11,407.14, its highest close since January 18.
The broader TOPIX index was up 0.48 percent at 1,151.97, the highest close since January 11.
Trade was active with 1.88 billion shares changing hands on the first section, up from the daily average of 1.16 billion in February last year. Wednesday's volume was the highest since May 10, except for settlement days of index futures and options, when settlement-related transactions boost trading volume. Advancers outpaced decliners 1,183 to 329.
Shares of Mitsubishi Electric, a major industrial electronics maker, jumped 2.4 percent to 523 yen after it reported a 5.5 percent rise in group operating profit in the October-December quarter and kept its full-year outlook unchanged.
Mitsubishi's announcement came a day after Sharp Corp posted an 11 percent rise in quarterly profit as strong sales of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and mobile phones offset falling chip prices.
Sharp, the world's biggest maker of LCD TVs, also left its full-year outlook unchanged, unlike many rivals including Sony Corp that saw their profits fall in the latest quarter on sliding prices of key products such as LCD TVs and cellphones.
Sharp's shares rose as high as 1,626 yen but met profit-taking and ended at 1,596 yen, down 0.1 percent.
Hitachi sank 1.7 percent to 679 yen after it lowered its operating profit forecast for the year to March by 13 percent.
Suzuki Motor, one-fifth owned by General Motors Corp closed up 1.6 percent at 1,930 yen.
Toyota advanced 0.3 percent to 4,060 yen.
In the pharmaceutical sector, Eisai, Japan's fourth-largest drug maker, reported a 6.5 percent rise in third-quarter profit on strong sales of its key Alzheimer's drug Aricept, and raised its full-year outlook.
The news boosted Eisai's shares by 3 percent to 3,440 yen. Eisai was also the biggest contributor to the Nikkei's rise.