Japanese stocks: Rising technology stocks send Nikkei to six-week closing high

TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei average hit a six-week closing high for a second straight session yesterday, as technology stocks followed their US peers higher and laggards such as Mizuho Financial Group gained.

Truck maker Isuzu Motors jumped on a brokerage upgrade following an announcement of a convertible bond redemption, and Toyota Motor Corp rose after a top official told Reuters it was eyeing a new cost-saving strategy.

An increasingly positive outlook for the US economy encouraged investors to buy Japanese stocks, although domestic production data released before the opening suggested the economy remained in a soft patch.

The Nikkei ended up 0.66 per cent or 74 points at 11,266.33, its highest close since April 15.

 

"We've been playing catch-up with US stocks, led by technology issues, in the past week or two," said Masatoshi Sato, a senior strategist at Mizuho Investors Securities.

Market players were mindful of the absence of any immediate trading cue from the US as the stock, bond and Nymex energy markets there are closed for the Memorial Day holiday.

Major banks also rose as earnings reports last week fuelled optimism about the industry, in crisis as recently as two years ago due to bad loans following the bursting of an asset bubble in the early 1990s.

Mizuho, Japan's biggest bank by assets, rose 2 per cent to 510,000 ($6626) and No 3, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, jumped 3.5 per cent to 707,000 ($9185).

- REUTERS