TOKYO: Japanese stocks rose for a second day as the Bank of Japan maintained its record monetary stimulus.
Energy shares led gains as crude rose to the highest level this year. Dentsu Inc. jumped 5.9 percent after the advertising agency’s sales rose in March from a year earlier. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. rose 3.1 percent after the Nikkei newspaper said profit will reach 100 billion yen ($833 million) this fiscal year. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. slumped 2.1 percent after UBS AG cut its rating on the stock to sell.
The Topix index climbed 0.8 percent to 1,591.51 as of 1:06 p.m. in Tokyo, with all but three of its 33 industry groups rising. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.9 percent to 19,813.44.
“The effects from wage increases will only become visible from April, so the BOJ will first want to see that very carefully before acting,” said Seiichiro Iwamoto, who helps oversee the equivalent of $37 billion at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “The rush of demand last year ahead of the April sales-tax hike has been distorting the year-on-year comparisons of recent economic data as well, so we’ll have to see the situation in April and thereafter.”
