Japan Stocks Rise First Day in Five as U.S. Economic Data Boosts Exporters - Bloomberg

Canon stocks rise. Photographer: Toshiyuki Aizawa/Bloomberg

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Howe, chief executive officer of hedge fund manager Geomatrix (HK) Ltd., talks about his investment strategy for Asian stocks. Howe also discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and Europe's sovereign debt crisis. He speaks with Rishaad Salamat, Susan Li and Phillip Yin on Bloomberg Television's "Asia Edge." (Source: Bloomberg)

Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Erwin Sanft, head of China and Hong Kong research at BNP Paribas SA, talks about global stocks and economies. Sanft, who also discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and China's currency policy, speaks in Hong Kong with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

Japanese stocks rose for the first time in five days as exporters climbed on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce additional measures to shore up the recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

Canon Inc. (7751), a camera maker that gets about a quarter of its sales in the Americas, gained 3 percent. Nintendo Co., a gamemaker that has lost 45 percent this year, jumped on speculation the shares have been oversold. Inpex Corp., Japan’s No. 1 energy explorer, gained 2.9 percent after oil prices rose.

The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 1.2 percent to 8,733.01 at the 3 p.m. close of trading in Tokyo. The gauge snapped its longest losing streak since March amid optimism Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will announce a plan to stimulate the economy when he speaks on Aug. 26 at a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At last year’s meeting, Bernanke sparked a rally in equities by signaling the Fed would buy more bonds -- a strategy known as QE2 -- to help prop up asset prices.

Bernanke “may signal some kind of measure that’s positive for stocks, even if he doesn’t go as far as QE3,” said Masatsugu Okeya, a fund manager at Chiba-Gin Asset Management Co. “The market has already priced in most of the negative news during the recent decline.”

The Topix index rose 1 percent to 750.39 after yesterday falling to the lowest level since March 2009. The gauge has lost about 12 percent this month amid concern U.S. growth is sputtering and Europe’s debt crisis will damage the banking system, damping demand in two of Japan’s biggest export markets. The decline has cut the price of shares on the index to 0.89 times book value, the lowest since March 2009.

“Stocks are likely to be bought as valuations and technical patterns indicate they’ve been oversold,” said Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Risk aversion came to a halt in the U.S. and European markets yesterday.”

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.2 percent today. The index closed little changed yesterday in New York, paring gains in the last 15 minutes of trading as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plunged on a report that Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein hired a defense attorney.

Japanese exporters to the U.S. advanced. Canon, the world’s biggest camera-maker, rose 3 percent to 3,600 yen. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), which counts North America as its biggest market, climbed 2.3 percent to 2,763 yen. The automaker also rose after saying it would collaborate with Ford Motor Co. to develop a hybrid system for pickup trucks.

Nintendo gained 8.4 percent to 13,100 yen. The world’s biggest gamemaker rebounded after the share’s 50-day moving average fell to the lowest level since January 2006.

“Nintendo’s bounce is representative of the technical rebound in the market as a whole,” said Kenichi Hirano, general manager and strategist at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo. “There’s a sense that investors are done unloading shares after one piece of bad news after another.”

Utilities rose after Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a candidate to replace Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said the country may not be able to do without nuclear power. Kansai Electric Power, the country’s second-largest utility, gained 2.8 percent to 1,409 yen. Chubu Electric Power Co., the third biggest, advanced 1.9 percent to 1,487 yen.

Although Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear power, the country needs to “‘carefully examine’’ whether it’s possible to meet its energy needs without it, Noda said today in Tokyo. Kan, who said he will step down as early as Aug. 26 if key legislation is passed, has said atomic power should be phased out following the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Japan’s power companies increased spending on fuels by 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) in the three months ended June 30, as they increased thermal generation to offset closures of nuclear plants, national broadcaster NHK reported this month.

Energy companies advanced after crude prices gained for a second day as investors bet on increased demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of the fuel. Inpex Corp (1605) gained 2.9 to 469,500 yen. Smaller Japan Drilling Co. rose 2.1 percent to 2,602 yen.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

View the original article here