Tokyo shares higher on Wall St gains after upbeat US home sales data - UPDATE |
|
|
|
Published
:
Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:31
|
TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Tokyo shares were higher in early trade Monday, with sentiment boosted by solid gains on Wall Street Friday in the wake of some welcome news on housing.Data from the US showed new home sales rose 2.8 percent in July from the year before, after falling 4 percent in June. The news helped relieve, for the moment, fears that a weakening US housing market and tighter credit could tip the economy into a recession.Wall Street also got a lift from US durable goods orders which rose 5.9 percent in July, the biggest increase in 10 months, and ahead of market expectations. In June, orders grew 1.9 percent.At 9.47 am (GMT 0047), the Nikkei 225 Stock Average was up 203.38 points, or 1.3 percent, at 16,452.35.The broader Topix index was up 20.36 points, or 1.3 percent, at 1,606.21.'The US home sales data for July was quite good and if August data is also strong it will give an impression to the market that the subprime mortgage loans problem is over,' said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, chief strategist at FMBC Friend Securities.However some analysts fear the July result was a one-off and that tougher standards for home lending this month in the wake of the subprime crisis could result in a sharp pullback in home sales in the near term.Continued softness in the yen also gave the market as a lift, as a weak local currency typically bolsters the earnings of exporters, a key sector in the Japanese economy. In early trade here, the yen was moving around 116.60 to the US dollar, from 116.21 in New York late Friday.Matsushita Electric Industrial Co rose 20 yen, or 1.0 percent, to 2,035 after the world's largest consumer electronics maker said Friday it will shoulder the cost of replacing defective batteries used in mobile phones made by Nokia, estimated at between 10 to 20 billion yen.Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp gained 3,000 yen, or 1.5 percent, to 199,000 following a newspaper report that said the telecom giant plans to integrate three video distribution services that provide content via fiber-optic lines.Major banks were also higher. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 40,000 yen, or 3.5 percent, to 1.17 million yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 13,000 yen, or 1.4 percent, to 940,000.(1 US dollar = 116.62 yen)kaori.kaneko@thomson.comkk/mb-kk/mb/kk/mbCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
Consumer and retailing highlights to 15:45 BST 