Japanese shares rise as energy, financial stocks track US peers’ rally

TOKYO: Japanese shares rose on Tuesday, mirroring Wall Street’s overnight strength, with energy and financial shares leading the gains.

The Nikkei was up 0.6% at 52,141.68, as of 0120 GMT, after rising as much as 1.2% to 52,456.03, just a little shy of a record high of 52,636.87 set in October.

The index jumped 3% to close at a more than two-month high in the previous session.

The broader Topix rose to a record high, last up 1.19% at 3,5190.3.

“Investors turned cautious and sold stocks to book profits as the Nikkei rose close to a record high,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.

But the overall market was firm with oil refiners and bank shares rising.

Wall Street ended higher overnight, with surging financial shares helping lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average to an all-time peak.

At the same time, energy firms jumped after a US military strike captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

In Japan, Eneos Holdings jumped 4.37%, leading the gain in the Topix’s oil and coal products index, which rose 4% to become the top performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s (TSE) 33 industry sub-indexes.

The bank share index climbed 2.82%, with Mizuho Financial Group jumping 4%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose more than 2.5% each.

Bucking the trend, Chubu Electric Power fell 7.6% to become the worst percentage loser on the Nikkei after the Japanese utility disclosed possible problems with earthquake standards used at a nuclear plant.

Of the more than 1,600 stocks on the TSE’s prime market, 82% rose, 15% fell, and 2% traded flat.