TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average edged up in choppy trade on Tuesday morning, on track for a record 16-day winning streak, while Yaskawa Electric tumbled after disappointing investors with tepid profit forecasts.
The Nikkei rose 0.2 percent to 21,737.30 in midmorning trade after opening lower.
The index traversed positive and negative territory after it scaled 21-year highs on Monday to rise for a record 15th straight session after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition scored a resounding election victory on Sunday.
The dollar inched 0.1 percent lower to 113.36 yen, pulling away from a three-month high of 114.10 against the yen hit after Sunday’s general election.
“The dollar-yen dipped a bit, but it’s still stable. Investors are now monitoring how U.S. monetary policy will turn out, and what economic policies the Abe administration will come up with,” said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, a strategist at Mizuho Securities, noting that these two elements were likely to determine market direction over the next few weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday he was “very, very close” after interviewing five candidates to deciding who should chair the Federal Reserve.
Exporters were mixed, with Toyota Motor Corp rising 0.4 percent, Advantest Corp adding 0.1 percent, while Hitachi Ltd falling 0.5 percent.
Yaskawa Electric Corp, one of the earliest companies to report first-half earnings, dived more than 5 percent and was the fifth most-traded stock by turnover.
The electrical equipment maker raised its full-year operating profit projection to 54 billion yen from the previously forecast 45.5 billion yen, but investors were disappointed because the new forecast was in line with the market consensus.
Banking stocks gained ground, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rising 1.4 percent and Mizuho Financial Group adding 0.8 percent.
The broader Topix rose 0.4 percent to 1,752.13.
Source: Brecorder.com
