Tokyo shares end 0.67pc higher on dip buying

TOKYO: Tokyo shares closed up 0.67 percent Tuesday as investors picked up bargains, brokers said.

The benchmark Nikkei index gained 62.60 points to 9,442.95 after losing 1.18 percent to end on an 11-week low the previous day.

The Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.71 percent or 5.77 points to 813.76.

"Due to the recent declines, there is a growing sense that Japanese shares are cheaply valued," Yutaka Yoshii, general manager at Mito Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Brokers also said selling was capped by a rebound in Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on expectations that the utility would avoid bankruptcy.

"Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said the government is trying to avoid court-backed bankruptcy proceedings for TEPCO so the remarks should help to calm the broader market sentiment as well," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities.

Edano said after the market closed Monday that TEPCO should avoid going through bankruptcy proceedings to ensure compensation is paid to people affected by its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

TEPCO shares, which dived nearly 28 percent on Monday amid fears of a massive loss for the year to March 2012 and of delisting from the stock market, rebounded sharply, ending up 4.34 percent at 216 yen.

Auto shares were higher.

Toyota Motor closed up 2.17 percent at 3,285 yen on a report in the Nikkei business daily of strong demand for its Prius hybrid wagon. Nissan Motor went up 1.95 percent to 782.

Toshiba jumped 3.02 percent to 409 yen after a media report that it and Sony would merge their small LCD panel businesses.

The market was unimpressed by Sony's unveiling of its new-generation "PlayStation Vita" gaming handset in Los Angeles as it sought to shake off the stigma of cyberattacks on its system.

Sony shares, which lost more than three percent to close on Monday, fell a further 1.50 percent to 2,031 yen.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011