Japanese Stocks Gain on Bernanke Comments, Yen; Panasonic Jumps

By Patrick Rial

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks climbed for a fourth day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policy responses are helping to unfreeze credit markets, and the yen weakened to a five-month low.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s No. 2 listed bank, rose 3.9 percent. Nissan Motor Co. added 3 percent after Merrill Lynch & Co. lifted its price estimate on the carmaker and the weaker yen boosted the value of overseas sales. Panasonic Corp., the world’s biggest maker of consumer electronics, jumped 4.8 percent after Nomura Holdings Inc. raised the shares to “buy.”

“The comments by Fed officials are boosting confidence in the efficacy of the response to the financial crisis,” Tomochika Kitaoka, a strategist at Mizuho Securities Co., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 119.44, or 1.4 percent, to 8,869.28 as of 9:30 a.m. in Tokyo, a fourth-consecutive gain. The broader Topix index climbed 8.45, or 1 percent, to 839.81.

Mizuho rose 3.9 percent to 213 yen. T&D Holdings Inc., the nation’s largest publicly traded life insurer, advanced 4.4 percent to 2,820 yen. Nomura, Japan’s biggest brokerage, gained 2.5 percent to 605 yen.

“Relieving disruptions in credit markets and restoring the flow of credit to households and businesses are essential if we are to see, as I expect, the gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth,” Bernanke said on April 3. “So far the programs are having the intended effect.”

‘Fear Gauge’ Falls

Fed Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn said in a speech the same day the central bank remains focused on reviving employment and demand. The VIX index, a measure of market volatility known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” fell below 40 for the first time since January, indicating traders are becoming more confident about the market advance.

Nissan, Japan’s third-largest automaker, gained 3 percent to 478 yen. Koichi Sugimoto, an analyst at Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, lifted his target price on the shares to 350 yen from 250, citing the recent weakness of the yen versus the dollar.

The yen fell to a five-month low against the dollar and the euro, as last week’s worldwide equities rally added to speculation that the global financial crisis is easing. A weaker yen increases the value of overseas sales for Japanese companies.

Panasonic jumped 4.8 percent to 1,272 yen. The shares were raised to “buy” from“neutral” by Nomura analyst Eiichi Katayama, who cited the focus of Panasonic’s management on profitable business segments. Misumi Group Inc. rose 5.7 percent to 1,383 yen as Nomura also recommended investors buy the stock on improving conditions in the auto and machinery industries.

North Korea launched a Taepodong-2 rocket yesterday purportedly to orbit a communications satellite. The United Nation’s Security Council adjourned yesterday without agreeing to additional sanctions on North Korea called for by Japan and the U.S.

To contact the reporter for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net.