TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed at their highest level since March 11 on Friday as investors shrugged off a 7.1 magnitude aftershock that struck the same region ravaged by Japan's worst earthquake on record.
The Nikkei 225 index rose 177.15 points, or 1.85 percent, to 9,768.08. The Topix index added 12.03 points, or 1.43 percent to 853.13.
Thursday's powerful aftershock killed four people and injured around 100, emergency services said Friday, with 1.18 million households still without power Friday afternoon in the north eastern region still struggling with the effects of the March 11 tsunami.
Investors pushed the Nikkei higher amid signs of limited damage from the aftershock, but trading was mostly choppy on concerns that such events risk further compromising any recovery in badly hit Japanese production.
Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there were no signs of abnormality at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after Thursday's quake, amid continuing efforts to stabilise it after the damage inflicted last month.
Shares in TEPCO vaulted 23.52 percent to close at 420 yen on Friday.
Dealers said Friday's rise came as the Tokyo Stock Exchange imposed a temporarily higher margin rate requirement on new investors, meaning they will have to stump up more cash if they speculate on TEPCO.
"The selling pattern has changed, and some people are covering their existing short positions as they are nervous about even stricter rules in the future," said Yukifumi Watanabe, a trader at Himawari Securities.
Tohoku Electric Power closed up 0.75 percent to 1,340 after Thursday's earthquake forced the utility to temporarily switch to an emergency diesel generator to power the cooling system at its Higashidori nuclear plant.
Cooling systems at its Onagawa nuclear plant were operating normally despite some power lines to the station being disabled by the aftershock, it said.
Toyota Motor gained 1.36 percent to 3,340 after announcing it would resume production at all its domestic plants from April 18 after halting in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Fast Retailing, which raised its profit outlook, added 7.27 percent to 11,940 yen.
US stocks dropped sharply on news of the quake overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 100 points shortly afterwards, but recovered later to close only 17.48 points (0.14 percent) down at 12,409.27.
The yen was weaker, also boosting sentiment and buoying exporters repatriating overseas earnings.
The Japanese unit was trading at 85.23 to the dollar from 85.00 yen in New York. The Japanese unit was at 122.79 to the euro from 122.02.
Comments
Comments are closed.