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Tokyo stocks rise in morning on strong U.S. economic growth
[July 30, 2014]

Tokyo stocks rise in morning on strong U.S. economic growth


(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Tokyo stocks advanced Thursday morning after investor sentiment was lifted by the U.S. economy's stronger-than-expected growth shown by data released overnight.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 55.00 points, or 0.35 percent, from Wednesday to end the morning session at 15,701.23. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 4.18 points, or 0.32 percent, at 1,296.42.



The Tokyo market opened on a firm note, following a report that U.S. gross domestic product expanded an annualized real 4.0 percent in the April-June period, beating the market projection of a 3.0 percent rise.

"The dollar's rise in the wake of the U.S. GDP data increased investor hopes for improved earnings of Japanese exporters," said Hiroichi Nishi, assistant general manager of equity research at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.


Export-related shares, including automakers and electronics firms, were generally strong due to the dollar's firmness in the upper 102 yen zone.

Toyota Motor gained 41 yen, or 0.7 percent, to 6,182 yen, Mitsubishi Motors advanced 25 yen, or 2.2 percent, to 1,180 yen and Toshiba added 4.40 yen, or 1.0 percent, to 461.10 yen.

Meanwhile, a sense of overheating began to spread in the market following the recent rally, Nishi said.

Despite rises in the key indexes, falling issues outnumbered rising ones by 841 to 786 on the First Section, while 187 ended the morning unchanged.

Brokerage was among the morning's best performing sectors, with Nomura Holdings rising 14.80 yen, or 2.3 percent, to 671.80 yen and Daiwa Securities Group up 10.00 yen, or 1.1 percent, to 885.40 yen.

Other major gainers included air transport, consumer finance and bank shares.

ANA Holdings rose 8.50 yen, or 3.4 percent, to 259.20 yen after announcing on Wednesday that the parent of All Nippon Airways returned to the black in the April-June quarter for the first time in two years.

By contrast, Nintendo tumbled 805 yen, or 6.5 percent, to 11,520 yen after the gaming giant reported a group net loss of 9.92 billion yen in the April-June quarter, compared with a year-earlier profit of 8.62 billion yen.

(c) 2014 Kyodo News

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