Business Recorder
TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average recouped early losses on Wednesday to trade slightly higher as memory chip maker Kioxia rebounded, while the broader Topix gained 1% as investors grew confident about the domestic corporate outlook. The Nikkei rose 0.3% to 62,930.2 by the midday break after falling as much as 0.67% earlier. The broader Topix rose 1.01% to 3,912.14. “There are still uncertainties in the market, but domestic firms have reported a relatively strong outlook,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. “The market had expected companies to flag a modest outlook (this earnings season), but it turned out that overall it was not as weak as they had expected.” Shares of Olympus Corp jumped 16.52% after the medical equipment maker forecast annual net profit ahead of market expectations and announced a share buyback plan. Kioxia rose 5.12% after early losses to become the biggest source of the Nikkei’s gain. Its gains covered the losses of chip-related heavyweights Advantest and Tokyo Electron, which fell 3.15% and 2.03%, respectively. Kioxia, which joined the Nikkei 225 in April, saw trading value of its shares hit 24 trillion yen ($152.20 billion) last month, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a record high since the exchange created the prime market in its exchange reform in 2022. Fibre optic cable maker Furukawa Electric surged 15.07%, extending gains from the previous session. It jumped 16% on Tuesday after announcing a stock split. Of the Nikkei members, 157 stocks rose, 65 fell and three traded flat. Trading firms rose, with Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co up 6.36% and 4.99%, respectively. An index for trading houses jumped 4% to become the top performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes. Toyota Motor rose 2.2% after sixth-session losing streak, while Honda Motor gained 2.2%.
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