“Japanese shares rose, with the Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average gaining for a second day, as the yen weakened after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pressed for a higher inflation target and China’s trade data beat estimates.
Honda Motor Co. (7267), which gets about 81 percent of its sales outside Japan, advanced 2.5 percent. Komatsu Ltd., a maker of construction equipment that gets about 14 percent of sales from China, climbed 1.6 percent. Izutsuya Co. jumped 48 percent after the department-store operator raised its profit forecast. Tokyo Electric Power Co. finished the day flat after a plunge that almost erased a 19 percent gain in seconds. The stock exchange said the selloff wasn’t the result of an error.
The Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 percent to close at 10,652.64 in Tokyo. Trading volume on the gauge was 54 percent above the 30- day average. The broader Topix (TPX) Index advanced 1.1 percent to 889.02, with about three stocks advancing for each that fell.
“Optimism for policy action is continuing from the end of last year,” said Masaru Hamasaki, chief strategist at Toyota Asset Management Co., which oversees about $20 billion. “The market seems to have priced in half of the weaker yen’s impact on earnings and the effect of Abe’s stimulus measures….”
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