Japanese stocks rose on optimism signs of a strengthening recovery in the U.S. will boost exporters and after some companies raised their profit outlooks. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s No. 1 car maker, gained 0.6 percent after a U.S. report showed companies added more workers this month. Advantest Corp., the world’s biggest maker of machines used to test memory chips, climbed 3.8 percent. Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., a drugmaker, jumped 6.2 percent after boosting its profit outlook. The fiscal year ends today in Japan. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 0.5 percent to 9,755.1 at the 3 p.m. market close in Tokyo, the highest since March 11 when the nation’s record earthquake and tsunami hit the country. The broader Topix index increased 0.4 percent to 869.38 with about twice as many stocks advancing as falling. “Now that the damage from the disaster has been factored in, there’s no big downside risks for stocks,” said Mutsuhiko Tsuzaka, a fund manager at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. in Tokyo. “Economic figures in the U.S. including employment are at good levels.” The 7 percent drop of the Nikkei and the Topix from the day before the March 11 quake to yesterday made them the worst performers among indexes for the world’s largest markets this year. The temblor and tsunami killed more than 10,000 people, razed homes and factories and crippled the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant northeast of Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 declined 12 percent during the Japanese fiscal year that finishes today. The measure had a 4.6 percent loss for the quarter. To contact the reporters on this story: Akiko Ikeda in Tokyo at iakiko@bloomberg.net; Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

Source