Nikkei average nudges up

The Nikkei average edged higher on Wednesday holding above key support near the bottom of its post-quake range as foreigners bought shares on cheap valuations, shrugging off bearish comments on the US economy by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Tokyo stocks recouped earlier losses triggered by players such as commodities trading advisors after the dollar bounced back above the crucial 80 yen level, after dipping below it earlier in the session. The Nikkei, which has shed almost three percent in a week, held above support at 9,400 as long-term foreign investors placed large-lot orders worth a combined 12 billion yen ($149 million) for blue chip firms and 4 billion yen in mid- and small-caps, traders said.
J.P. Morgan raised its ratings on major Japanese banks, some of which are big lenders to Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the nuclear plant at the centre of Japan's radiation crisis, to "overweight" from "neutral", spurring short-covering in their battered shares.
The benchmark Nikkei average closed up 0.1 percent at 9,449.46 on Wednesday, while the broader Topix also gained 0.1 percent to 814.45. The fact that the Nikkei managed to stay above the psychologically important 9,400 level and key technical support of 9,317 - a March 29 intraday low - may limit any potential losses in coming weeks, traders said. But fears of a slowdown in the US economy fanned by Bernanke's comments and a string of weak data are likely to prevent the Nikkei coming close to its next resistance level, looming around 9,559.62, at the bottom of the Ichimoku cloud on the Nikkei's daily chart.
Bernanke acknowledged a slowdown in the US economy but offered no suggestion that the central bank is considering any further monetary stimulus to support growth, souring sentiment across equity markets and towards the dollar as investors expect US interest rates to stay low for a longer period.
By contrast, stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 are at about 2.1 times book value, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 0.8 percent to 363 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group added 0.8 percent to 2,293 yen. In contrast, Nintendo posted its biggest daily loss since the sell-off after the quake, shedding 5.7 percent to 16,930 yen, a level last seen before it launched its Wii videogame console in 2006.
Tokyo Electric was down 7.4 percent to 200 yen, sending other utilities lower, after briefly dropping below 200 yen for the first time on persistent concerns that the government may struggle to win approval for a state-led rescue of the utility.