Tokyo stocks up at break as weak yen helps exporters

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose Thursday morning with exporters boosted by a weaker yen after the Federal Reserve indicated US interest rates would rise next month and a Japanese central bank member hinted its loose monetary policy would remain.

Minutes from the Fed's May policy meeting showed members thought the world's top economy, despite recent below-par readings, was likely strong enough for an increase in borrowing costs "soon".

They were also broadly in favour of winding down the bank's balance sheet, essentially sucking cash out of the system and putting upward pressure on borrowing costs.

While another rate lift has been widely expected the comments reinforced traders' beliefs.

And on Thursday Bank of Japan board member Makoto Sakurai suggested at a finance meeting that the central bank is committed to continuing its massive monetary easing stance, despite signs of a pick-up in the economy.

The dollar was up at 111.62 yen in Tokyo from 111.52 yen in New York late Wednesday. A weak yen is positive for Japanese exporters as it inflates their profits when repatriated.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.54 percent, or 106.12 points, to sit at 19,849.10 at the intermission, while the Topix index of all first-section issues rose 0.43 percent, or 6.73 points, to 1,581.84.

In share trading Toyota reversed early losses to end the morning 0.09 percent up at 6,007 yen, while Nintendo added 0.03 percent to 31,890 yen.

Toshiba rose 1.47 percent to 255.2 yen after a Nikkei business daily report said it agreed with joint venture partner Western Digital to negotiate the sale of a chip plant in Japan to the US company.

SoftBank jumped 4.27 percent to 8,876 yen on reports it has built a $4 billion stake in US semiconductor firm Nvidia.