Nikkei closes 0.57% higher following Wall Street rally
- Source: Xinhua
- [16:49 August 28 2009]
- Comments
Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday following an overnight rally of Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Average advanced 60.17 points, or 0.57 percent, to 10,534.14. The broader Topix index was up 5.08 points, or 0.53 percent, to 969.31.
"The Tokyo market is resilient after U.S. stocks' rise, but investors are tentative ahead of the general election...and they appear wary of the strengthening yen," Yumi Nishimura, a senior equity market analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co.'s Financial Research Center, was quoted as saying.
Gainers were led by pulp and paper, mining, and securities issues while iron and steel, rubber product, and construction issues were among the decliners.
"Investors are basically squaring their positions ahead of the weekend and the election, unwilling to sell in case foreign investment pours into the market after the election and unwilling to buy because of Shanghai," Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities, was quoted as saying.
Exporters were firm on positive sentiment stemming from the Dow's rising streak. Kyocera Corp rose 1.1 percent to 7,600 yen, Canon Inc gained 1.9 percent to 3,690 yen and Tokyo Electron rose 1.8 percent to 5,090 yen.
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co advanced 2.3 percent to 224 yen after saying on Thursday it will invest 10 billion yen ($107 million) to build a tyre factory in China.
Trading volume on the main section contracted to 1,927.15 million shares from 2,048.21 million Thursday.
Value and volume leader Mizuho Financial Group jumped 4 yen, or almost 2 percent, to 228 yen.\
On the First Section, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones 863 to 663, with 162 others remaining unchanged.
The TSE's Second Section index edged up 10.08 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,336.02 on a volume of 62.10 million shares.
On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term September Nikkei 225 index futures contract rose 20 points to 10,530.
