Tokyo stocks close higher with eyes on earnings

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed higher on Monday, extending rallies on Wall Street as traders eyed corporate earnings reports.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.69 percent, or 191.71 points, to end at 27,993.35, while the broader Topix index added 1.02 percent, or 19.80 points, to 1,960.11.

The dollar fetched 132.58 yen in Asian trade, against 133.25 yen in New York on Friday.

In Tokyo, “chip-linked shares are leading the market” after chip-testing equipment maker Advantest reported brisk first-quarter results, revising up its full-year earnings forecast, Daiwa Securities said.

Advantest gained 3.69 percent to 8,140 yen, while semiconductor parts maker Shin-Etsu Chemical rose 2.86 percent to 17,445 yen.

Toyota rallied 3.51 percent to 2,212 yen and shipping firm Nippon Yusen advanced 3.08 percent to 10,720 yen ahead of the two companies’ earnings reports due later this week.

Sony Group, which trimmed its annual net forecast on Friday, weighed down the market as it tumbled 3.21 percent to 11,320 yen.

Tokyo shares drift lower as yen surges

SoftBank Group lost 1.80 percent to 5,504 yen after the US Securities and Exchange Commission put Alibaba on a provisional watchlist of US-listed Chinese firms that face removal from American exchanges. The Japanese company owns roughly 25 percent of Alibaba shares.

Power companies were lower after reporting losses. Tohoku Electric Power plunged 10.04 percent to 663 yen while Kyushu Electric Power fell 3.33 percent to 841 yen.

ANA Holdings climbed 2.39 percent to 2,532 yen and Japan Airlines rose 2.38 percent to 2,369 yen ahead of their earnings reports released after the closing bell.

After the market close, ANA Holdings reported a one billion yen ($7.6 million) net profit for the first quarter, marking a return to the black for the first time in three years for the April-June period.

Its rival Japan Airlines reported a 19.56 billion yen net loss, smaller than the previous year’s 57.91 billion yen loss when airlines were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.