Tokyo shares eked out a small gain on Thursday, bringing to an end a seven-day losing streak although exporters were hit as yen extended its rally against the dollar. The yen has soared against the dollar this year despite a series of easing measures by the Bank of Japan - including negative interest rates - with analysts warning it is running out of ammunition to kickstart inflation and economic growth.
The greenback sank to 108.70 yen Thursday afternoon, erasing most of its gains since the BoJ last expanded its monetary easing programme in October 2014. A strong yen is bad news for exporters as it makes their goods more expensive overseas and dents their repatriated earnings. "The market has lost confidence in the Bank of Japan to do anything that would weaken the yen," Jason Wong, a currency strategist at the Bank of New Zealand, said in a commentary.
"It seems to be gravitating towards its longer term anchor." After ending the morning session in the red, the Nikkei turned positive as investors picked up shares on the cheap. The Nikkei 225 index ticked up 0.22 percent, or 34.48 points, to close at 15,749.84, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.39 percent, or 4.89 points, to 1,272.64.
"It's easy to buy on dips with shares at this level," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities. "Market players want to see if the Nikkei has hit bottom for now, or not." Mobile carrier SoftBank, a market heavyweight, jumped 1.65 percent to 5,604 yen while Panasonic rose 1.02 percent to 879.2 yen.
But Toyota fell 0.60 percent to 5,424 yen and Sony was off 1.05 percent to finish at 2,820 yen. Honda fell 0.57 percent to 2,852 yen on news that a Texas teenager died following an accident in a 2002 Civic equipped with a Takata airbag. Her death brings the global total to 11 fatalities in an exploding airbag crisis that has set off the biggest auto recall in US history. Takata slumped 2.84 percent to 342 yen.
Seven & i Holdings, which operates 7-11 convenience stores, ended 1.60 percent lower at 4,489 yen after its board voted down a proposal from its chairman that would have put his son in line to succeed him. The shares fell more than eight percent at one stage before the controversial vote.