Roundup: Tokyo stocks close higher on solid earnings, firm yen weighs

TOKYO, Aug. 1– Tokyo stocks closed higher on Monday as sentiment was buoyed by a slew of upbeat U.S. and domestic corporate earnings, although the yen’s rise and investors hitting the sidelines capped gains. Local dealers said that Wall Street’s strong showing late last week encouraged buying following a number of U.S. bellwether firms reporting earnings that…

TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Tokyo stocks closed higher on Monday as sentiment was buoyed by a slew of upbeat U.S. and domestic corporate earnings, although the yen’s rise and investors hitting the sidelines capped gains.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 191.71 points, or 0.69 percent, from Friday to close the day at 27,993.35.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, added 19.80 points, or 1.02 percent, to finish at 1,960.11.

Local dealers said that Wall Street’s strong showing late last week encouraged buying following a number of U.S. bellwether firms reporting earnings that beat market expectations.

These included e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc., they highlighted, pointing to some solid earnings from domestic firms including shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and food and biotechnology corporation Ajinomoto Co.

Buying was driven by domestic investors, strategists here said, as international investors hit the sidelines to await further cues about the health of the U.S. economy following two quarters of negative growth, a technical recession by definition.

“Medium- and long-term investors are on the sidelines, with domestic investors doing most of the buying on Monday,” Yutaka Miura, a senior equities analyst at Mizuho Securities, was quoted as saying.

Those on the sidelines are keenly awaiting data this week to further assess the state of the U.S. economy, including key manufacturing data along with employment data.

The yen’s rise against the U.S. dollar capped gains as a firm yen impacts Japanese exporters’ overseas profits when they are repatriated, market strategists said.

“The yen’s rise against the U.S. dollar pressured markets on concerns that it may erode exporters’ profits,” Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., said.

By the close of play, marine transportation, wholesale trade and rubber product issues comprised those that gained the most, and issues that rose outpaced those that fell by 1,486 to 312 on the Prime Market, while 40 ended the day unchanged.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines rose 3.9 percent, after announcing a more than doubling of its quarterly net profit compared to last year.

Similarly, drug-maker Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. surged 8 percent on robust earnings, while Ajinomoto jumped 6.4 percent on better-than-expected earnings.

But Japanese consumer electronics makers lost ground on subpar earnings and downgraded profit outlooks, with Sony dropping 3.2 percent, while Fujitsu tumbled 6.6 percent. Alps Alpine, meanwhile, plunged 13.4 percent by the close.

Nikkei heavyweight SoftBank Group also weighed on the broader market, ending the day 1.8 percent lower.

On the Prime Market on Monday, 1,226.74 million shares changed hands, dropping from Friday’s volume of 1,293.59 million shares.

The turnover on the first trading day of the week came to 3,101.52 billion yen (23.39 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem