TOKYO: Japanese stocks bumped higher in early Thursday trading, thanks in part to a turn back downward for the yen, and possibly the positive lead from the U.S. markets. The Nikkei Average NIK, +0.25% was 0.4% higher in initial moves, with a 0.2% gain for the Topix I0000, +0.30% as the dollar USDJPY, +0.18% bought ¥124.38, rebounding from the ¥123.85 recorded at the previous day’s Tokyo stock close. Among the big global names, Sony Corp. 6758, +0.68% SNE, -0.36% was up 0.6%, Fujitsu Ltd. 6702, +1.22% FJTSY, +4.79% rose 1.1%, Nissan Motor Co. 7201, +0.68% NSANY, -0.09% improved by 1.4%, and Fast Retailing Co. 9983, +0.06% FRCOF, +0.78% gained 0.7%. Shares of Softbank Corp. 9984, -1.32% SFTBF, +1.32% firmed by 0.7% after saying it would buy a $1 billion stake in Forward Ventures, a company that runs the popular South Korean shopping website Coupang, with many press reports comparing the deal to Softbank’s earlier investment in Alibaba Group BABA, +0.31% A Nikkei news report that Asahi Diamond Industrial Co. 6140, +3.22% planned to return a hefty 80% of its fiscal-year net profit to investors sent shares of the high-tech tool maker up 3.4%. On the downside, ecommerce major Rakuten Inc. 4755, -6.75% RKUNF, -7.05% fell 4.6% as a separate Nikkei report said the company planned to sell about $1.6 billion worth of new shares to fund future acquisitions and investments.
