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(AFX UK Focus)
2009-11-17 02:06
Nikkei inches up 0.2 pct, commodity shares rise |
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By Masayuki Kitano TOKYO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.2 percent on Tuesday, with gains for commodities-linked shares on a surge in oil and gold prices offsetting pressure from the yen near a one-month high against the dollar. Canon rose 2.7 percent after it said plans to buy Dutch copier and printer maker Oce for 730 million euros ($1.1 billion), in a challenge to rivals Ricoh and Xerox. But Tokyo shares paled in comparison to their U.S. peers which rose to fresh 13-month closing highs, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reinforced expectations that interest rates would stay low to spur growth. "The way it has been recently is that Tokyo shares do not get a straightforward boost from gains in overseas stock markets," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a strategist at Okasan Securities. "What people are looking at pretty closely today is the foreign exchange market, with the dollar having hit levels below 89 yen," Ishiguro said. Ishiguro said the United States seemed to be taking a tolerant stance toward dollar weakness, especially given comments by U.S. President Barack Obama during his recent Japan visit, when he touched upon the importance of Asia as an export destination for the United States. The Nikkei rose 0.2 percent or 16.60 points to 9,807.78, still stuck near the bottom of its range over the past month between 9,628.67 and 10,397.69. The broader Topix dipped 0.1 percent to 859.44. In contrast, the U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.45 percent on Monday and closed above the psychologically important 1,100 level for the first time since October 2008.
COMMODITY-LINKED SHARES Sharp Corp rose 3.4 percent to 1,043 yen after the Nikkei business daily said the LCD panel maker will begin supplying light-emitting diode backlights for LCD TVs to Sony Corp, expanding the two firms' LCD panel alliance. Sharp will begin supplying Sony with LED backlights, which make up roughly 20 percent of the cost of an LCD TV, in December, the paper said. Canon climbed to 3,460 yen. Shares of nonferrous metals companies, such as Toho Zinc , Dowa Holdings and Pacific Metals jumped after prices of industrial metals surged the previous day due to concerns over supply and economic recovery prospects. Toho Zinc climbed 4.7 percent to 445 yen. Dowa, a major Japanese copper smelter, rose 1.8 percent to 501 yen and Pacific Metals, the country's top ferronickel maker, rose 2.1 percent to 621 yen.
Major trading firms also rose, with Mitsubishi Corp
rising 1.6 percent to 2,000 yen and Mitsui Co Ltd edging
up 0.9 percent to 1,176 yen.
and Japan Airlines fell 2.8 percent to 103 yen after oil
prices surged 3 percent the previous day.
(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
((masayuki.kitano@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
masayuki.kitano.reuters.com@reuters.net; +81-3-6441-1872))
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