LOS ANGELES: Japanese stocks surged in early Friday trade, with the Nikkei Average NIK, +0.63% quoted 0.9% higher — almost erasing a 1.1% drop Thursday — and with the broader Topix making an identical gain.
Earnings results provided some of the upside for Tokyo, with Toshiba Corp. 6502, +3.26% TOSYY, -0.21% showing off a 5% gain after posting a 86% jump in nine-month net profit and, perhaps more importantly, saying it would exit its foreign television business.
Casio Computer Co. 6952, -2.00% CSIOY, +3.84% also got a post-earnings boost to rise 2.7%, while Disco Corp. 6146, -0.64% added 1.8% ahead of its earnings, as a Nikkei news report said the company’s April-December operating profit would surge almost 50%, thanks to “smartphone-driven demand for its dicing saws.
” Among the telecoms, NTT DoCoMo Inc. 9437, +2.43% DCM, +0.00% — which posted an 11% drop in nine-month earnings — managed to rally 2.9%, possibly helped by news of its entry into the retail broadband market.
On the other hand, rival Softbank Corp. 9984, -3.32% SFTBF, -1.16% fell 2.9% as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA, -0.40% in which Softbank is a top shareholder, saw its shares drop sharply in New York on disappointing financial results.
Also losing ground, shares of Takata Corp. 7312, -1.90% TKTDY, +5.12% fell 1.1% as reports said a fatal Texas car crash earlier this month could be due to a faulty Takata airbag.
Shares of Nintendo Co. 7974, +2.18% NTDOF, -7.01% retreated 0.1%, extending their post-earnings weakness after a tumble in the previous day’s session. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen eased modestly, with the dollar USDJPY, -0.28% changing hands for ¥118.18 compared to ¥117.89 a day before.
A flood of economic data released ahead of the open was mostly negative — with inflation slowing and household spending down sharply, while industrial production rose 1% against a forecast gain of 1.3% — but the numbers appeared to have little effect on the currency and equities markets.
