Japan shares rise on trade optimism, Topix touches 9-1/2-month high

SumCo

26/09/2019 03:56

TOKYO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Thursday,
tracking an upbeat Wall Street session, as investors welcomed
U.S. President Donald Trump's hints of progress toward a trade
deal with Beijing, with cyclical and China-related stocks
leading the gains.
    The benchmark Nikkei average  .N225  gained 0.2% to
22,069.28 by the midday break, while the broader Topix  .TOPX 
advanced as much as 1.0% to 1,635.88, its highest level since
Dec. 5, and the morning session up 0.4%.
    President Trump stoked trade optimism on Wednesday by saying
China wants "to make a deal very badly" and an agreement to end
a nearly 15-month trade war with China "could happen sooner than
you think."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N26G0VJ
    His comments pushed market concern about U.S. political
risks into the background, a day after Democrat lawmakers said
they will open an impeachment inquiry into Trump's dealings with
his Ukraine counterpart.
    On Wall Street, the S&P 500  .SPX  notched its biggest daily
gain in two weeks, while the Dow  .DJI  and the Nasdaq  .IXIC 
also advanced on Wednesday.  .N/C 
    In Japan, highly cyclical sectors iron and steel  .ISTEL.T 
and sea transport  .ISHIP.T  were among the best performing
sectors of the bourse's 33 subsector indexes, up 2.9% and 1.8%,
respectively.
    China-related issues led the gains, with Fanuc  6954.T  up
3.3%, Komatsu  6301.T  by 1.5% and Hitachi Construction
Machinery  6305.T  advancing 1.1%.
     The Tokyo market was not impacted by the limited trade deal
Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed on
Wednesday, which cuts tariffs on U.S. farm goods and Japanese
machine tools while further staving off the threat of higher
U.S. car duties.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N26G14W
    Sino-U.S. talks remain the bigger concern for investors,
analysts said.

 (Reporting by Tomo Uetake; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
 ((tomo.uetake@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1645))