Tokyo shares end up on bargain hunting

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks ended slightly higher Wednesday as bargain hunting offset a stronger yen.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.10 percent, or 20.95 points, to 20,020.86, while the Topix index of all first-section issues edged up 0.09 percent, or 1.39 points, to 1,621.87.

The higher yen prompted selling in early trade, but "investors showed appetite for bargain hunting," Okasan Online Securities strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary.

The Nikkei index "hit the intraday low shortly after the opening bell, and headed north and emerged above water" by late morning, he wrote.

"You can call it the run-up to trading on expectations for earnings," he said.

The April-June corporate reporting season for major Japanese companies begins in earnest next week.

The dollar dipped to 112.01 yen from 112.03 yen in New York but it is well off the 113.34 yen seen Friday in Tokyo before a long weekend in Japan.

A stronger yen makes Japanese products more expensive overseas and tends to weigh on exporters.

Banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ lost 0.50 percent to 718 yen but rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 0.09 percent to 4,272 yen.

Telecom titan SoftBank was up 1.26 percent at 9,260 yen and market heavyweight Fast Retailing gained 0.15 percent to 33,930 yen.

Toyota shed 0.84 percent to 6,128 yen and Honda fell 0.16 percent to 3,091 yen.

Microchip-linked firms ended higher following a record close for the tech-rich Nasdaq in New York on Tuesday.

Renesas Electronics gained 2.66 percent to 1,043 yen, while chip-testing device maker Tokyo Electron was up 0.59 percent at 16,135 yen.