Japan stocks edged up, sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average toward a sixth-straight gain, led by glassmakers on optimism sales of flat-screen materials will recover. Financial shares fell following declines in the U.S. Asahi Glass Co. and Nippon Electric Glass Co. surged more than 4 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. rated them “overweight” on expectations sales will rebound. Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s No. 3 automaker, rose 1.2 percent after it posted better-than-expected U.S. sales last month. Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. lost 1.7 percent after share sales by JPMorgan and American Express Co. sent U.S. financial stocks lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 34.95, or 0.4 percent, to 9,742.95 at 12:31 p.m. in Tokyo, set for a sixth-straight gain, the longest winning streak since Jan. 7. The broader Topix index added 1.42, or 0.2 percent, to 914.98, with an almost equal number of shares rising or falling. “People have factored in the idea that the economy started to recover in the current quarter and are waiting to see whether the bounce will be sustained,” said Hiroshi Morikawa, a senior strategist at MU Investments Co., which manages about $14 billion. “There’s a feeling that shares have overheated, so investors have slipped into a wait-and-see mode.” The Nikkei has soared 38 percent since hitting a 26-year low on March 10, pacing a global rally on expectations government stimulus packages totaling $2.2 trillion are starting to take effect. The MSCI World Index has jumped 45 percent since its March low. Flat Panels Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has introduced a record 15.4 trillion yen ($161 billion) spending package to bolster the economy, and Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said again this week that the nation’s economy probably bottomed last quarter when it shrank a record 15.2 percent. Asahi Glass, the world’s No. 1 maker of glass substrates used for plasma-display panels, jumped 4.4 percent to 760 yen. Nippon Electric Glass surged 6.2 percent to 978 yen. The companies were rated “overweight” in new coverage by JPMorgan analyst Akira Kishimoto, who cited an expected midterm improvement in substrate sales. A gauge of glassmakers was the biggest winner among 33 industry groups on the Topix. Changes to analyst ratings and target prices determined many of the market’s biggest movers. Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. rose 1.9 percent after Nikko Citigroup Ltd. raised the shipbuilder’s share-price target by 39 percent. Santen Pharmaceutical Co. rose 2.8 percent as Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Ritsuo Watanabe lifted the maker of eye drops to “buy” from “neutral.” U.S. Sales Nissan saw U.S. sales fall 33 percent, whereas analysts had expected a 37 percent drop. The combined decline for Japanese and South Korean car companies was 37 percent, surpassing U.S.- based competitors’ 32 percent drop. Nissan added 1.2 percent to 601 yen, while Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-biggest carmaker, rose 0.9 percent even after U.S. sales fell 42 percent. Sumitomo Trust lost 1.7 percent to 475 yen, while Aozora Bank Ltd. sank 3.3 percent to 145 yen. Sony Financial Holdings Inc. continued yesterday’s 14 percent plunge after saying the value of its insurance subsidiary fell by half last fiscal year. Its shares sank 4.7 percent to 230,000 yen. A measure of U.S. financial stocks lost 1.2 percent, the steepest decline among the 10 industries on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after JPMorgan sold $5 billion in stock and American Express sold $500 million. Banks and insurers were the biggest drags on the Topix index today.

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