Tokyo stocks gained Tuesday as a strong US jobs report continued to support the global market while the yen edged lower against the dollar, boosting Japanese exporters. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.28 percent or 63.60 points to close at 22,539.54, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.02 percent or 0.27 points at 1,774.96.
"Investors remain utterly unfazed by the prospect of trade tariffs or even higher interest rates," thanks to positive consecutive monthly payroll numbers, said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia Pacific at OANDA, in a note to clients. "Supported by rallies in US shares and a lower yen (against the dollar), Japanese shares are seen testing the upper limit" of their prices, Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.
The dollar fetched 109.93 yen in Asian afternoon trade, up from 109.73 yen in New York late Monday. Toshiba was up 1.00 percent at 302 yen after it said it would discuss a widely reported plan to sell its PC business to Sharp at a board meeting later Tuesday. Sharp, which had gained on the news in the morning, closed 4.06 percent lower at 2,833 yen after announcing plans to raise up to 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) through a public offering.
Kobe Steel dropped 1.07 percent to 1,109 yen after prosecutors and police on Tuesday searched its headquarters over a quality data fabrication scandal. Game giant Nintendo rallied 0.96 percent to 40,860 yen and Sony jumped 1.31 percent to 5,389 yen, but Toyota fell 0.75 percent to 7,345 yen. Minutes before the opening bell, official data showed that Japan's household spending slipped 1.3 percent year-on-year in April, the third consecutive monthly decline.
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