Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index rose for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday as gains in blue-chip shares helped erase early losses. The Nikkei 225 index, which jumped 1.37 percent the previous day, added 0.24 percent, or 52.55 points, to close at 22,221.66, but the broader Topix index was down 0.09 percent, or 1.47 points, at 1,626.46. Tokyo shares opened lower with investors turning cautious after modest drops on Wall Street following mixed results from major banks.
But the Nikkei index closed in positive territory as "investors broadly bought back blue-chip shares," said Shinichi Yamamoto, broker at Okasan Securities in Tokyo. "Although some investors are trying to lock in profits, market sentiment remains solid," he added.
In Tokyo trade in individual stocks, NTT Docomo jumped 3.55 percent to 2,386.5 yen after the nation's top mobile operator said it would cut data fees by 40 percent. Other major carriers were also up, with KDDI up 5.84 percent at 2,524.5 yen and SoftBank up 3.05 percent at 1,334 yen.
"The market had been worried about a possible price war breaking out among the carriers," said Seiichi Suzuki, senior market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Centre. "But NTT Docomo came up with roughly the same offer as KDDI's, which indicated it wouldn't intend to wage a price war," he told AFP. "Worries have been erased for now." On the contrary, selling hit Rakuten, an online retailing group which entered the mobile market recently. It lost 0.83 percent to 1,064 yen.