TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 0.50 percent on Tuesday morning, led by a surge in factory robotics giant Fanuc, while investors await full-year earnings by major Japanese firms and a US Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 99.01 points to 20,082.33 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.53 percent, or 8.50 points, at 1,627.57.
A drop in the yen has lifted hopes for another round of bumper earnings as Panasonic and Honda get set to report their results later in the day.
The dollar rose to 119.10 yen in Asia, from 119.05 yen in New York.
The Fed's policy arm on Wednesday finishes up its meeting and investors will be looking for an idea about when it plans to hike interest rate.
Markets largely shrugged off an announcement late Monday that Fitch cut its credit rating on heavily indebted Japan by one notch, citing concerns about Tokyo's budget after it delayed a sales tax rise originally slated for later this year.
That came as fresh data Tuesday showed Japan's retail sales in March fell 9.7 percent from a year ago, the biggest fall since 1998 and underscoring weakness in the world's number three economy.
In Tokyo share trading, market heavyweight Fanuc surged 5.22 percent to 28,200.0 yen after the industrial robot maker said it would double its dividend.
The secretive company based near Mount Fuji has been under pressure to boost shareholder returns in recent months after US billionaire Daniel Loeb's Third Point hedge fund invested in it and called for it to launch a share buyback.
"The fact that Fanuc has doubled its dividend payout ratio will be a reason for stocks, especially the Nikkei 225, to rise," Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, told Bloomberg News.
Mitsubishi UFJ crept up 0.20 percent to 852.8 yen after the Nikkei business daily said Japan's biggest bank would post an industry record-breaking annual profit of 1.0 trillion yen.
Tokyo Electron plunged 14.58 percent to 6,575.0 yen after the semiconductor equipment maker and US rival Applied Materials said Monday they cancelled a multi-billion merger after US competition regulators opposed the deal.
Canon fell 2.50 percent to 4,393.0 yen. The camera and copier giant said Monday its profits fell nearly 29 percent in the three months to March, due to falling camera demand as consumers turn to picture-taking smartphones.
On Wall Street, profit-takers moved in after Friday's record closures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.41 percent and the Nasdaq fell 0.63 percent, while the Dow eased 0.23 percent.
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