Tokyo stocks overcame early losses to end modestly higher on Monday as yen weakness prompted late bargain-hunting. Shares opened in negative territory even though US stocks hit new highs Friday for the sixth time in seven sessions, with investors focusing instead on dollar-yen movements. Stocks moved into positive territory in the afternoon as the yen weakened.
"Players bought on dip as they felt relieved to see the yen losing ground," Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities, told AFP. The Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.09 percent, or 16.46 points, to close at 19,251.08. The Topix index of all first-section issues advanced 0.16 percent, or 2.47 points, to 1,547.01.
"We'd had Japanese shares perform poorly last week as investors kept their eyes on the yen, but the currency is calming down a little now," Takuya Takahashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, told Bloomberg News. The dollar rose to 113.23 yen late Monday in Tokyo, up from 112.87 in New York on Friday. It had traded near 114 yen in Tokyo at the start of last week. A weaker yen is generally positive for Japan's exporters as it inflates the value of their overseas profits when sent back home.
SoftBank rose 3.18 percent to 8,789 yen, after media reports that it was considering selling struggling US subsidiary Sprint to rival T-mobile. "The news on SoftBank and Sprint is being seen as a positive in the market, and is especially pushing up the Nikkei 225," Daiwa's Takahashi said. Toshiba rose 1.25 percent to 186.3 yen, after the Nikkei business daily said the troubled company was expected to pull out of a project to build a new nuclear plant in Texas.
The conglomerate has warned of huge losses and possible accounting fraud at its US nuclear arm Westinghouse Electric. Among other major shares, Toyota added 0.50 percent to 6,432 yen, but Sony dropped 1.09 percent to 3,508 yen. Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo fashion brand, fell 0.54 percent to 34,990 yen.