TOKYO: Japanese stocks wandered broadly higher in early Wednesday trading, but the top blue chips were mixed ahead of key Chinese data and a Bank of Japan policy decision due later in the day. The Nikkei Average NIK, +0.29% was up 0.4%, with a 0.5% advance for the Topix I0000, +0.25% as the dollar USDJPY, +0.06% bought ¥123.30, down from ¥123.60 a day earlier. The moves came less than two hours before China was set to report quarterly economic growth and closely watched retail sales and industrial output for June. Later in the day, the Bank of Japan was slated to hand down its latest policy decision, with no change to its monetary easing expected, but with some analysts predicting the central bank might downgrade its growth forecast. Against that backdrop, Sony Corp. 6758, -1.02% SNE, -1.29% lost 0.5%, Panasonic Corp. 6752, -2.01% PCRFF, +2.17% eased 0.3%, and Sharp Corp. 6753, -1.12% SHCAF, -14.07% fell 0.6%, but Honda Motor Co. 7267, +1.11% HMC, +1.10% rose 0.5%, and Canon Inc. 7751, +1.59% CAJ, -0.25% added 1.1%. Financials were likewise mixed, with Mizuho Financial Group Inc. 8411, -0.15% MFG, +0.47% up 0.3% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. 8316, +0.28% SMFG, +0.91% adding 0.5%, but Nomura Holdings Inc. 8604, -1.35% NRSCF, +5.32% NMR, +3.55% losing 0.4% and Credit Saison Co. 8253, -2.25% down 1.2%. Shares of Capcom Co. 9697, +7.12% outperformed with a 5.1% climb as the company announced details on its upcoming videogame releases, including its “Street Fighter 5” title, while stock in Toshiba Corp. 6502, -1.96% TOSYY, +1.64% retreated 0.1% amid rising concern about its accounting scandal, expected to result in the resignation of the company’s president Hisao Tanaka.
