Japanese shares track Wall Street higher on savvy stock-picking

DeNA Co

09/02/2022 02:52

TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Wednesday,
underpinned by overnight strength on Wall Street, as investors
hunted for companies that reported strong results as the
earnings season nears its peak.  
    By 02:01 GMT, the Nikkei share average  .N225  rose 0.8% to
27,500.36, while the broader Topix  .TOPX  advanced 0.72% to
1,950.72.
    Wall Street ended sharply higher overnight, lifted by big
technology firms such as Apple  AAPL.O  and Microsoft  MSFT.O ,
while a jump in Treasury yields elevated bank stocks ahead of a
key inflation reading this week.  .N  
    "The U.S. market has raised sentiment. And investors hunted
for companies that reported strong earnings," said Masahiro
Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset
Management.
    "Also investors seem to have digested the caution for the
U.S. monetary policy tightening," 
    Heavy machinery maker IHI  7013.T  surged 10% and was the
top performer on the Nikkei after the company tripled its annual
operating profit forecast. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nXB0BE2HFO 
    Nissan Motor  7201.T  advanced 4.17% after the automaker
raised its full-year profit outlook as it squeezed out more
profit per vehicle.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UJ0DL
    Toyota Motor  7203.T  rose 1.79% ahead of its earnings
announcement later in the day. 
    Steel makers  .ISTEL.T  led gains among the exchange's 33
industry subindexes, with JFE Holdings  5411.T  jumping 9.36%.  
  
    Technology investors SoftBank Group  9984.T  climbed 5.22%
after it has shelved its blockbuster sale of Arm Ltd to U.S.
chipmaker Nvidia Corp  NVDA.O  and will instead seek to list the
company.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2UJ01O
    Game contents developer DeNA  2432.T  tumbled 8.39% and was
the worst performer on the Nikkei, followed by cement maker
Taiheiyo Cement  5233.T , losing 6.46%, and a construction firm
Taisei  1801.T , down by 3.64%.
     The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board  .TOPX  was 0.63 billion, compared to the average of
1.19 billion in the past 30 days. 

 (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
 ((813-4563-2711, junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters
Messaging:junko.fujita.reuters.com@reuters.net;))