By Jason Clenfield and Toshiro Hasegawa
June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose, extending a weekly gain, after oil surged to a seven-month high and the weaker yen lifted the earnings prospects of electronics makers.
Inpex Corp., Japan’s No. 1 oil driller, climbed 6.6 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its target price and said crude may reach $85 a barrel. Nikon Corp., a camera maker that gets 81 percent of its sales overseas, jumped 4.1 percent after the yen reached the lowest in a week. Mazda Motor Corp. climbed 8 percent as Nikko Citigroup Ltd. raised the automaker’s target price. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the world’s largest merchant fleet operator, lost 2.7 percent after shipping rates fell.
“The rise in commodity prices helps to support confidence in the economy’s outlook,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Tokyo.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 59.28, or 0.6 percent, to 9,728.24 at 12:36 p.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix climbed 3.26, or 0.4 percent, to 914.25. For the week, the Nikkei is poised for a 2.1 percent advance, while the Topix is headed for a 1.9 percent gain, the second weekly advance for both gauges.
The Bank of Japan may upgrade its economic assessment of the country for a second straight month at the conclusion of a policy meeting beginning June 15, the Mainichi newspaper said, without saying where it got the information.
$85 a Barrel
Inpex rose 6.6 percent to 843,000 yen after crude oil rose 4 percent to its highest settlement since Nov. 4. Goldman Sachs said prices may reach $85 a barrel by the end of the year as world demand recovers and supplies shrink. Goldman Sachs also raised Inpex’s share-price target by 17 percent.
Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. the country’s second- biggest energy explorer, rose 10 percent to 5,500 yen, after Nikko Citigroup Ltd. raised its rating on the company to “buy” from “hold” on May 1. AOC Holdings Inc., a mining and refining company, soared 11 percent to 985 yen, also benefiting from an upgrade to “outperform” by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. analyst Reiji Ogino.
Mitsubishi Corp., a trading house that gets more than half its profit from commodities, added 2.4 percent to 1,908 yen, while rival Mitsui & Co. gained 3.5 percent to 1,305 yen.
The yen declined yesterday versus 15 of the 16 most-traded currencies on speculation domestic investors are sending funds overseas to buy higher-yielding assets. The Japanese currency depreciated to as much as 96.97 versus the dollar late yesterday, the weakest since May 29. The currency recently traded at 96.76.
Nikon surged 4.1 percent to 1,521 yen. Mazda, which exports about 80 percent of its production, climbed 8 percent to 271 yen after Nikko Citigroup Ltd. raised the automaker’s target price by 36 percent to 350 yen, citing better earnings prospects in the second half of the business year.
Baltic Slips
Canon Inc., the world’s largest maker of digital cameras, rose 1.6 percent to 3,170 yen after Nikkei English News said the company has revived a plan to build a domestic factory because of recovering demand. The plant will start operations in April 2010, the report said.
Shippers fell after the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, ended its longest winning streak in almost three years on speculation that Chinese demand for raw materials may be easing.
Mitsui O.S.K. declined 2.7 percent to 662 yen, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Japan’s third-largest shipping line, dropped 3.9 percent to 423 yen. A gauge of stocks tracking shipping lines was the biggest decliner among the Topix’s 33 industry groups.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net; Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment