SF: Japanese Stocks Rise for First Time in Three Days on U.S., Oil
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose for the first time in three days after a report showed production in the U.S. jumped twice as much as forecast and as commodity prices climbed.
Canon Inc. and Honda Motor Co., which get about 80 percent of their revenue outside Japan, rallied more than 1 percent. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan's largest commodities trader, advanced 2.1 percent as crude oil and metal prices increased. Nidec Corp., the world's biggest maker of motors for disk drives, surged 4.5 percent on plans to acquire units from Emerson Electric Co.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.9 percent to 9,247.48 as of 9:11 a.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix index climbed 0.7 percent to 832.44. The Topix has dropped 8.2 percent in 2010, cutting the average price of stocks in the gauge to 15.5 times estimated earnings, near the lowest level since November 2008.
"Excessive caution will ease since macro data, as well as corporate earnings, aren't that worrisome," said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. "Stocks have fallen to oversold levels, so further declines should be limited."
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 1.2 percent in New York yesterday following higher-than-estimated earnings at Wal- Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc., and BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. A report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production rose 1 percent in July, double the median economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey.
The yen depreciated to 110.34 against the euro today in Tokyo from 109.69 at the close of stock trading yesterday. A weaker yen boosts the value of overseas income at Japanese companies when converted into their home currency.
Crude oil for September delivery increased yesterday for the first time in six days in New York, gaining 0.7 percent to $75.77 a barrel. The London Metal Exchange Index of six metals including copper and zinc climbed 1.7 percent yesterday.
