Japanese shares gain on Wall Street strength, robust earnings

Fujikura

12/08/2021 03:52

TOKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Japanese shares were set to climb
for a fifth straight session on Thursday, underpinned by solid
earnings from domestic companies and overnight strength on Wall
Street, although some profit-booking capped those gains.
    The Nikkei share average  .N225  edged up 0.19% to 28,123.67
by 0214 GMT, while the broader Topix  .TOPX  0.19 inched up
1,957.78
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed at
record levels after data showed U.S. consumer price increases
slowed in July, easing concerns that the Federal Reserve will
imminently signal a scaling back of bond purchases.  .N  
    "It has been a recent pattern that Japanese shares open
higher to track the U.S. markets but investors soon sell stocks
for profit-taking," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the
investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.
    "But the market's fundamentals are good as inventors have
finally regained confidence in the Japanese corporate outlook." 
    SMC Corp  6273.T  rose 3.73% after the industrial equipment
maker raised its annual operating profit forecast by 15.6% to
200 billion yen ($1.8 billion). 
    Economically-sensitive stocks tracked gains of their U.S.
peers following the passage of a large bipartisan infrastructure
package.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PI08Y
    Shipping firms gained the most among the Tokyo Stock
Exchange's 33 industry subindexes, with Kawasaki Kisen  9107.T 
jumping 8.67%.  
    Oil explorer Inpex  1605.T  rose 2.25% as oil prices gained.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PI07N 
    Kawasaki Kisen was the top gainer on the Nikkei, followed by
Nexon Co Ltd  3659.T , which rose 8.03% and Showa Denko KK
 4004.T , up 6%.
    Rakuten Group  4755.T , a mobile phone services and online
shopping mall operator, was the worst performer on the index,
falling 3.43% after it widened six-month losses.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nXB07A2NTG
    Rakuten was followed by Sumco Corp  3436.T , losing 2.56%
and Fujikura Ltd  5803.T , down by 2.45%. 
    
($1 = 110.3400 yen)

 (Reporting by Junko Fujita; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((813-4563-2711, junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters
Messaging:junko.fujita.reuters.com@reuters.net;))