Tokyo stocks ended higher Wednesday after a seesaw session with the main indexes sitting in negative territory at the lunch break. Japan's main equity markets opened higher on the back of a rise in New York, where the Nasdaq hit a record high after Apple reported strong earnings last week. But then an uptick in the yen hit demand for shares of Japanese exporters, which benefit from a cheaper currency, pushing the indexes into negative territory.
Stock prices rebounded towards the close on dip buying.
"The market is likely to move sideways until there is more clarity on Trump policies," Alan Richardson, a Hong Kong-based investment manager at Samsung Asset Management, told Bloomberg News.
Trump's election win boosted the dollar and stocks on expectations that his administration will ramp up government spending to juice up the economy.
But the US leader's protectionist-leaning comments and lack of detail on an economic plan have kept markets guessing.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.51 percent, or 96.82 points, to end the day at 19,007.60, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.53 percent, or 8.00 points, to close at 1,524.15.
Sharp shares jumped 3.85 percent to 323 yen on reports it will take the lead on building an LCD panel plant in the United States.
Sharp, which was acquired by Taiwan's Foxconn, has notified the Japanese government of the construction plan, Kyodo News and other Japanese media said.
The head of Foxconn has previously confirmed he is considering a $7 billion investment to make flat panels in the United States.
Toyota shares rose 0.61 percent to 6,385 yen and Honda climbed 0.93 percent to 3,574 yen.
Energy explorer Inpex dropped 1.11 percent to 1,062.5 yen while JX Holdings tumbled 2.52 percent to 517.5 yen as oil prices dropped.
Troubled air-bag maker Takata fell 1.07 percent to 460 yen while market heavyweight Fanuc, a factory robot maker, rose 2.06 percent to 22,010 yen.
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