Tokyo Shares End Higher On Energy Firms, Exporters

TOKYO,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Augst,2016) : Tokyo stocks snapped a two-day losing streak Wednesday as a drop in the Yen lifted exporters while energy and bank shares also rose. The Japanese market has been under pressure since weak GDP figures Monday resurrected fears about growth in the world's number three economy, just as the strong yen is taking a bite out of company profits. But the Dollar picked up against the yen Wednesday after comments from a senior US central banker suggested an interest rate hike could possibly come as early as next month. The greenback jumped to 101.01 yen from 100.30 yen in New York, where it briefly touched as low as 99.54 yen, falling below 100 for only the second time this year. "In the short term, the sharp appreciation in the yen has been put to a halt and the sentiment is in favour of buying exporter shares," Hiroaki Hiwada, a Toyo Securities strategist, told Bloomberg news.

"The market is correcting itself now after many were caught off-guard yesterday by the downturn in stocks.

" The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.90 percent, or 149.13 points, to end at 16,745.64, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.98 percent, or 12.66 points, at 1,311.13. Toyota shares tacked on 2.23 percent to end at 6,006 yen and Honda jumped 3.38 percent to 3,028 yen.

Sharp soared 16.53 percent to 141 yen. The stock is up more than 50 percent since the ailing company said on Friday it has won final approval from anti-trust authorities to be acquired by Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn.

Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, a market heavyweight, rose 1.29 percent to 36,970 yen. Stronger oil prices gave crude-linked shares a boost with energy explorer Inpex soaring 6.46 percent to 891.6 yen and refiner JX Holdings jumping 3.37 percent to 389.9 yen. Banking giants Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 3.46 percent to 535.9 yen and 3.27 percent to 3,438 yen.