TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 0.35 percent Monday morning, after official data showed Japan’s economy contracted at a slower rate than expected last quarter.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 70.81 points to 20,590.26 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares added 0.38 percent, or 6.27 points, to 1,670.73.
Shortly before the opening bell, official data showed Japan’s economy contracted 0.4 percent in the April-June quarter, or an annualised 1.6 percent, due to weak spending at home and slowing exports.
Still, the figures came in slightly better than the market’s expectations for a fall of 0.5 percent, or 1.8 percent on a yearly basis.
“The GDP data isn’t bad,” said Andrew Clarke, director of trading at Hong Kong brokerage Mirabaud Asia.
“It’s a small step in the right direction,” he told Bloomberg News.
Others said broad-based weakness in the economy would heap pressure on the Bank of Japan to expand to its already record 80 trillion yen ($640 billion) annual asset-buying scheme.
