TOKYO: Tokyo stocks edged up by the close Thursday on the back of strong Japanese corporate earnings with messaging app Line surging nearly 17 percent as it reported better-than-expected profit.
The Nikkei 225, which opened slightly lower after a decline on Wall Street, gained 0.15 percent, or 32.16 points, to end the day at 21,739.78, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.14 percent, or 2.47 points, to 1,753.90.
On Wednesday, the Nikkei closed lower for the first time this month, ending the longest winning streak in its nearly 70-year history.
“Even though the Nikkei’s 16-day rally has ended, there’s no change in the upbeat market sentiment,” Okasan Online Securities in a commentary.
Line soared 16.72 percent to 4,885 yen after the messaging app said its operating profit rose to 5.85 billion yen in the third quarter — handily beating market forecasts and prompting Deutsche Bank to upgrade its view on the stock.
Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing rose 1.17 percent to 37,150 yen after a report said it would not sell the casual clothing chain’s offerings through Amazon and instead would create its own online store.
Factory robot maker Fanuc edged down 0.11 percent to 25,075 yen after initially surging more than six percent as operating profit beat market forecasts.
Kobe Steel fell 1.54 percent to 895 yen after a Japanese credit rating agency said it may cut its outlook on the firm hit by a snowballing fake data scandal.
After markets closed, the embattled firm said it lost a Japanese industrial standards certificate for certain products at one of its factories and warned there could be more sites affected.
In forex trading, the dollar weakened to 113.58 yen from 113.78 yen in New York.
Source: Brecorder.com
