Nikkei in Japan Rise on Techs and Bank; Softbank, Yasakawa Up

Nigel Thomas
20 Jul, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Japan gained following a rally in tech stocks and banking stocks. Apple Inc earnings lifted Toshiba Corp, Softbank and Foster Electric. Banks gained after the U.S. debt talks jitters eased. Yasakawa Electric earnings lift robot makers.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan gained following a rally in tech stocks and banking stocks. Apple Inc earnings lifted Toshiba Corp, Softbank and Foster Electric. Banks gained after the U.S. debt talks jitters eased. Yasakawa Electric earnings lift robot makers.[/R]

Stocks in Japan closed higher and the benchmark index Nikkei gained 0.8% to trade above 10,000. Tech stocks and Softbank jumped after Apple earnings more than doubled and bank gained after euro-zone worries eased ahead of the ministers meeting tomorrow.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1.2% to 10,005.90 and gained as much as 1.5% in the early trading.

The broader Topix index gained 0.8% to 860.66 and the index was traded higher in the entire session.

Trading volume declined to 1.53 billion shares on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The yen edged lower to 79.11 after the dollar gained on the renewed optimism on the debt talks.

Stock Movers

Industrials and automakers traded higher after U.S. debt talks showed some progress.

Yasakawa Electric added 3 yen to 914 yen after it reported better than expected earnings in the quarter to June. The news also lifted other robot makers.

Fanuc Ltd added 3.9% to 14,460 yen on the expectations of higher domestic and export sales. The stock rose to 11-year high. Advantest Corp added 1.4% to 1,474 yen.

Apple Inc linked stocks soared after the maker of popular phones doubled quarterly earnings. Softbank Corp added 2.6% to 3,150 yen, Toshiba Corp, the maker of NAND flash memories added 2.7% to 413 yen and headphones maker Foster Electric gained 1.7% to 1,520 yen.

Banks closed higher after a regional rally in banking stocks on the expectations of a resolution to Greek bailout ahead of a ministers meeting in the euro-zone.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group increased 1.6% to 389 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group added 1.1% to 2,430 yen.

Oil and energy related companies closed higher after oil gained 1.3% in New York trading. Inpex added 1.9% to 600,000 and Japan Petroleum Exploration jumped 1.2% to 3,945 yen.