Japan Stocks Rise on Bridgestone, Nippon Electric Glass Targets

By Masaki Kondo

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose, extending a weekly gain, as forecasts by Bridgestone Corp. and Nippon Electric Glass Co. lifted optimism earnings are recovering.

Bridgestone, the world’s largest tiremaker, leapt 8.5 percent after narrowing its first-half loss forecast. Nippon Electric gained 6.3 percent after increasing its profit target. Nippon Oil Corp. climbed 3.1 percent after saying it’s bidding for an oil project in Iraq. Japan Real Estate Investment Corp. jumped 4.7 percent after Morgan Stanley raised its view on the nation’s real estate investment trusts to “attractive.”

“Bridgestone’s forecast gave us evidence that company earnings will start to rebound,” said Naoki Fujiwara, who oversees the equivalent of $3.7 billion at Shinkin Asset Management Co. “Investors still believe the global economy will start to recover later this year and this confidence is leading to resilience in the market.”

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 81.31, or 0.8 percent, to close at 9,877.39 in Tokyo. The broader Topix index rose 7.03, or 0.8 percent, to 926.80, with more than three stocks rising for each that fell. Both gauges climbed 0.9 percent in the past five days, bouncing back from a decline last week.

The estimated price-earnings ration on the Topix is 42.7 times, the highest among the benchmark gauges of the world’s five-biggest stock markets, according to Bloomberg data.

To contact the reporters for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.