Asian Markets Update: Japanese Stocks Bounce as Short-Sellers Cover
TOKYO -- For Tokyo traders, the thin trading volume Monday indicated the market chose to concentrate on its upcoming holiday rather than speculate how U.S. shares would react to news that
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
may have to be chopped up.
Active short covering on June Nikkei 225 futures, as well as some light buying of tech stocks by mutual fund managers helped Tokyo start on a good footing, traders said.
The
Nikkei 225
index climbed 429.38 points, or 2.4%, to 18403.08, while the
Topix
index, which includes all shares listed on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange's
first section, rose 46.36, or 2.8%, to 1695.23. The
Jasdaq
small-cap index inched 0.57 higher to 100.74, while the Nikkei
over-the-counter
index rose 20.78, or 1.0%, to 2049.13.
Markets in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea were closed for national holidays.
After investors shorted June Nikkei futures ahead of and during the reshuffling of the key Nikkei index over the past several weeks, traders were busy covering and rebuilding their positions today. June Nikkei 225 futures, which trades on the
Osaka Stock Exchange
, rose 280.00, or 1.6%, to 18380.00.
Nasdaq's
bounce Friday helped many of Japan's tech shares, with
Hitachi
(HIT)
climbing 98 yen, or 7.6%, to 1388 and
Toshiba
rising 77, or 7.4%, to 1125. Internet investor
Softbank
jumped 1990, or 7.5%, to 28,590, while
Hikari Tsushin
climbed 1650, or 10.6%, to 17250.
Sony
(SNE) - Get Report
reversed earlier losses to climb 170, or 1.4%, to 12,580. The firm announced after the market close Friday that its group net profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 fell 32%, due to a slump in sales and profits as the yen grew stronger last year.
Oracle Japan
, which jumped to the TSE's first section from the OTC market on Friday, remained ask-only at 82,000 as offers outnumbered bids. Although Oracle Japan makes money, many investors are waiting until after the holidays to grab a slice of the stock, betting that prices will fall over the next week. Oracle's president
Chikara Sano
said on Friday that he was disheartened by the slide in the share price, noting that it made him "feel the sadness of a bonsai vendor at an autumn festival who does not want to sell at a discount price."
With most Asian traders off on vacation, the dollar was slightly lower and fetched 108.01 yen.
Australia's
All Ordinaries
index shed 13.3 to 3071.8, as bank shares slipped amid expectations of a 25 basis point rate hike by the
Australian Central Bank
on Wednesday.
