By V. Phani Kumar
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks ended higher Friday to increase their weekly gains, with Sony Corp. leading exporters northward after receiving a broker upgrade, while Toyota Motor Corp. advanced on plans to resume domestic production of some hybrid cars. The Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NI225 9,536, +101.12, +1.07%) finished at 9,536.13, climbing 1.1% during the session to take its weekly gain to 3.6% and narrow its loss to 10.2% so far in March; the broader Topix index gained 0.4%, to also take home weekly gains of 3.3%. Shares of Sony (SNE 32.38, +0.23, +0.72%) (JP:6758 2,634, +84.00, +3.29%) added 3.3% after Deutsche Bank raised the stock rating to buy, while Toyota (JP:7203 3,275, +60.00, +1.87%) (TM 81.19, -0.95, -1.16%) advanced 1.9%. Among other winners, telecommunications major Softbank Corp. (JP:9984 3,120, +120.00, +4.00%) (SFTBF 37.55, +0.49, +1.32%) jumped 4%, Fast Retailing Co. (FRCOY 12.54, -0.07, -0.56%) (JP:9983 10,490, +240.00, +2.34%) added 2.3% and Japan Tobacco Inc. (JP:2914 314,000, +9,500, +3.12%) gained 3.1%. But Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TKECY 9.31, 0.00, 0.00%) (JP:9501 846.00, -56.00, -6.21%) , the utility whose Fukushima nuclear plant remained in the eye of a storm amid worries over radiation leakage, ended the day 6.2% lower, for a weekly fall of 10.8% and a plunge of nearly 60% in the month to date. |
