By Masaki Kondo
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese resource shares advanced on speculation an expanded stimulus program in China will boost demand for energy and materials, while automakers fell after U.S. car sales tumbled to a 27-year low.
Inpex Corp., Japan’s biggest oil explorer, climbed 2.9 percent after Reuters reported China will widen its $585 billion stimulus package and oil prices increased. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. lost at least 2.5 percent after their U.S. sales tumbled by more than a third. Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., Japan’s No. 1 casualty insurer, sank 3.8 percent after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. banking system hasn’t stabilized.
“China is one of the few spots in the world where we can see signs of recovery,” said Hiroshi Morikawa, a senior strategist at Tokyo-based MU Investments Co., which manages about $14 billion. “Its resurgence may help lift commodity prices that have been in free fall.”
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 32.32, or 0.5 percent, to 7,262.04 as of 12:44 p.m. in Tokyo, erasing an early 1.7 percent drop. The broader Topix index rose 0.69, or 0.1 percent, to 727.49, with almost two stocks climbing for each that fell.
The Nikkei slid 18 percent in 2009 through yesterday, narrower than the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s 23 percent drop in the U.S. Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said last week he ordered a study into ways to bolster equities, spurring speculation the government may buy shares to support prices.
To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.
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