Tokyo shares up 0.66pc

TOKYO: Tokyo shares gained 0.66 percent on Friday after positive US employment data lifted stocks on Wall Street while Japanese exporters got a boost from a weaker yen.

The headline Nikkei-225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 66.59 points to 10,137.73, after topping the 10,200 mark in early trading for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters.

The Topix index of all first-section issues added 0.44 percent or 3.86 points to 874.34.

"The bullish market has arrived earlier than expected," Cosmo Securities strategist Toshikazu Horiuchi told Dow Jones Newswires.

Brokers cited positive US private-sector jobs data as one reason. Closely watched official US employment data is due out later Friday after jobs figures from the payrolls firm ADP showed stronger-than-expected gains for June.

"There is still a slowdown in the US economy, but the trend for a moderate recovery is intact," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of the equity division at SMBC Nikko Securities.

The market, however, trimmed gains in the afternoon as investors cautiously awaited the US employment report.

"It's unclear at this point whether this relatively firm trend in the broader market will continue or whether there is adjustment ahead, so the US jobs data will be a turning point," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities.

In New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.74 percent on Thursday, buoyed by the promising numbers on US job creation as well as a solid gain in retail sales for the month.

In Tokyo trade on Friday, exporters rose, with Honda up 1.39 percent at 3,260 yen and Canon up 1.81 percent at 3,920 yen.

The yen was at 116.54 to the euro and at 81.28 to the dollar in Tokyo afternoon trade, significantly weaker than 115.85 yen and 80.89 yen a day earlier.

NTT DoCoMo gained 1.19 percent to 144,200 yen after a newspaper reported that the telecom giant planned to generate electricity using solar and wind power at its transmission stations.

The generated electricity would be used to run the stations, but the company also plans to sell excess energy to third parties within a few years, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

Also positive were local media reports that NTT DoCoMo has agreed with Internet search giant Baidu to set up a joint venture to distribute games and other mobile phone content in China.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011