BLBG:Japan’s Topix Reverses Losses as Oil Companies, Trading Houses Advance
The Topix index reversed earlier losses, advancing for the first time in three days, as Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. led energy companies higher after oil and metal prices rose.
Japan Petroleum, Japan’s second-largest oil explorer, gained 3.9 percent. Mitsui & Co., a trading house that counts commodities as its biggest source of profit, rose 1.8 percent. TDK Corp. (6762) soared 7.5 percent after saying it entered an agreement to supply disk-drive heads to Western Digital Technologies.
The Topix index rose 0.2 percent to 725.77 as of 1:06 p.m. in Tokyo, after earlier falling as much as 0.9 percent. About an equal number of stocks advanced as declined. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average was little changed at 8,464.67.
Crude for December delivery rose 3.2 percent to $102.59 a barrel in New York yesterday, while the London Metal Exchange Index of prices for six industrial metals including copper and aluminum advanced 1.3 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kana Nishizawa in Hong Kong at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.
