TOKYO: Tokyo stocks have closed 0.24 per cent higher as upbeat Japanese corporate earnings and a weak yen lifted the market.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 50.38 points to end at 20,664.44 on Thursday, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.46 per cent, or 7.73 points, to 1,673.58.
“The Topix and Nikkei are sustaining highs because overall earnings are good and that’s acting as a support,” Soichiro Monji, the chief strategist at Daiwa SB Investments, told Bloomberg News.
“A US rate increase in September is likely. The first increase has already been priced into a weaker yen, so the focus is on the pace of the second and third increases.”
Traders increasingly bet that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates as early as September.
The Fed has said any rate hike was dependent on signs of a pick up in the world’s top economy.
On Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management said the US service sector expanded 4.3 per cent in July to a record high.
But payroll firm ADP estimated the US private sector added 185,000 jobs in July, below the analystestimate for 220,000 additional jobs.
In Tokyo share trade, mobile carrier Softbank rose 1.89 per cent to 7,140 yen at the close after it said its first quarter net profit nearly tripled.
Telecommunications company NTT, whose three-month net profit soared nearly 30 per cent, jumped 3.16 per cent to 4,945.5 yen, while Toyota climbed 1.29 per cent to 8,033 yen.
Market heavyweight Fast Retailing dropped 2.15 per cent to 57,220 yen, a day after its Japanese Uniqlo stores reported disappointing monthly sales.
In currency markets, the US dollar fetched 124.76 yen in Tokyo, slightly up from 124.40 yen on Wednesday.
In New York, it was at 124.88 yen late on Wednesday.
