TOKYO: Japanese stocks advanced, driven by exporters, as the yen weakened against the dollar after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report boosted the odds that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.
Toyota Motor Corp., which gets 78 percent of its auto sales abroad, added 1.6 percent, leading exporters higher. Olympus Corp. surged 16 percent, the most in 2 1/2 years, after profit at the medical-systems maker topped estimates. Vitec Holdings Co. Ltd. was among the largest declines on the Topix index, slumping 12 percent, after the maker of electronics cut its earnings estimates.
The Topix added 1.6 percent to 1,587.83 at 12:37 p.m. in Tokyo, extending to 15 percent its surge from an eight-month low on Sept. 29. Volume was 15 percent higher than the 30-day intraday average. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.7 percent to 19,592.14. The yen traded at 123.31 per dollar after dropping 1.1 percent on Friday as the best monthly U.S. employment report of the year pushed odds for an interest-rate hike in 2015 to 68 percent.
“It’s likely we will see the yen weaken to mid-124 yen to the dollar because of the different directions of the U.S. and Japan’s interest rates,” said Shoji Hirakawa, chief equity strategist at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. That “will bring big advantages to Japanese exporters. The effect of the Chinese economy’s slowdown looks like it will be limited, and it’s almost certain that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in December. ”
