Tokyo stocks rallied for a second straight session Wednesday, as clothing chain Uniqlo's parent company surged after its billionaire chairman said it would roll back price hikes that dented sales. Stronger oil rates and an upbeat Chinese trade report also boosted sentiment, while the surging yen fell back from 17-month highs on the dollar.
By the close, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soared 2.84 percent, or 452.43 points, to close at 16,381.22, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares advanced 2.55 percent, or 33.09 points, to 1,332.44. "Stock gains helped by the rise in oil prices may last for a little while, but I can't be bullish enough to say that the trend has changed," Tatsushi Maeno, head of Japanese equities at Pinebridge Investments Japan, told Bloomberg News.
"Until we can see the yen will truly weaken and the dollar strengthen, with the Federal Reserve clearly showing that they'll be raising (interest) rates as a result of a strong US economy, we won't be able to expect sustainable gains." Uniqlo's operator Fast Retailing, a market heavyweight, soared 6.61 percent to end the day at 28,695 yen. In comments published Wednesday, company boss Tadashi Yanai, Japan's richest person, told the leading Nikkei business daily that the price hikes were a mistake.
The chain's domestic stores boosted prices by 10 percent in 2015 and five percent in the year before, in response to exchange rate fluctuations, the Nikkei said. Last week, the firm warned that net profit in the fiscal year to August would plunge by 45 percent owing to slackening sales. In other trading, Takata rose 0.51 percent higher to 388 yen after reports that the crisis-hit air bag maker is on the hunt for a white knight to prop up its finances, while chairman Shigehisa Takada is expected to step down.
The firm has been hammered by an airbag defect linked to at least 11 deaths globally and scores of injuries. Toyota rose 2.51 percent to 5,623 yen and factory robotics giant Fanuc tacked on 1.89 percent to 18,235 yen. Boosted by Brent crude prices holding above $44 a barrel, energy-explorer Inpex soared 3.94 percent to 853.8 yen, while JX Holdings was up 2.35 percent at 452.8 yen. In forex trading, the dollar rose to 108.97 yen from 108.57 yen in New York.