Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5 percent on Friday in a rebound after two days of losses, but investors were wary of pushing the market higher before seeing the outcome of a Group of 20 meeting and with the yen hovering near a 15-year high on the dollar. But with the earnings season heading into full swing in Japan, investors snapped up shares of companies that had upbeat earnings prospects, such as Hitachi Ltd, helping provide support to the overall market.
G20 finance officials started their formal meetings on Friday with nations from the developing world and Japan dismissing US proposals to set limits on current account balances in an effort to defuse tensions over currencies. "As more earnings start to come out, investors have enough trading factors for individual companies and that's become the main driver in the market," said Yoshikiyo Shimamine, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
In light trade, the benchmark Nikkei ended the day up 50.23 points at 9,426.71, after marking its lowest close in three weeks on Thursday. The index shed 0.8 percent on the week, weighed down by a fall of nearly 2 percent on Wednesday after China unexpectedly tightened credit.
But the Nikkei managed to end the week above its 13-week moving average, now at 9,383, which has served as support since September. Resistance looms at its 26-week moving average, now at 9,630, which has held down the Nikkei for about five months. The broader Topix advanced 0.6 percent to 824.88.
The yen edged up to 81.12 against the dollar, still near a 15-year high of 80.84 hit on EBS on Wednesday. Trade was light on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with 1.49 billion shares changing hands, near its lowest volume since late September that it hit on Monday. Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1. After the close, tyre maker Bridgestone Corp said it is targeting an operating profit of 280 billion yen ($3.44 billion) in 2012, up 8 percent from 157 billion yen forecast for this year, by expanding sales globally and cutting costs. The stock ended the day up 1.9 percent at 1,455 yen.
Hitachi Ltd jumped 2.9 percent to 357 yen after the Nikkei business daily said that Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate was set to report an operating profit for April-September of more than 200 billion yen, beating its forecast of 170 billion yen. Shares of exporters were mixed, with Canon Inc up 1.6 percent at 3,785 yen and Kyocera Corp rising 0.6 percent to 8,460 yen, but Honda Motor Co falling 1 percent to 2,916 yen.