TOKYO: Japan’s Topix index swung between gains and losses as an advance by energy explorers amid higher oil prices countered a decline in metal producers.
Oil producer Inpex Corp. jumped 3.1 percent, the most on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, after crude prices climbed for a third day. Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. surged 4.5 percent after Jefferies Group LLC boosted its rating on the electric machinery maker. Ono Pharmaceutical Co. soared 7.1 percent after the U.S. broadened approval of lung-cancer treatment with its drug. Olympus Corp. slumped 3.3 percent after CNN reported that the company’s endoscopes, which have been linked to two deaths, were allegedly sold without regulatory approval.
The Topix added 0.3 percent to 1,521.77 as of 12:35 p.m. in Tokyo, swinging from a 0.2 percent loss. The gauge dropped 0.6 percent Wednesday from its highest close since December 2007. The Nikkei 225 added 0.2 percent to 18,747.30 after declining for two days. U.S. stocks have also fallen for two days from record levels.
“Unless there is any macro event that happens, then most investors should adopt a wait-and-see attitude with their recent purchases of Japanese stocks,” said Mikey Hsia, a trader at Sunrise Brokers LLP. “We already had a bit of a correction. It was a bullish retracement from 19,000 to where we are now.”
