TOKYO, April 14, 2011 (AFP) - Tokyo shares closed higher Thursday but gains were capped by caution as investors eyed upcoming earnings reports that will illustrate the initial impact of the March 11 disasters on corporate Japan.
The Nikkei 225 index added 12.74 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 9,653.92. The Topix index gained 2.13 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 846.72.
Uncertainty hangs over the Japanese economy as the impact of the earthquake and tsunami continues to emerge, amid an ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant whose reactors were crippled by the wave.
"Investors can hardly move amid so many uncertain factors for the current business year," Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management told Dow Jones Newswires.
Japan on Wednesday lowered its assessment of the economic outlook for the first time in six months, citing the impact of the disaster on exports, production and consumer sentiment.
The move came after the Bank of Japan last week downgraded its view of an economy ravaged by the quake and the monster wave it unleashed, which destroyed entire towns and left more than 28,000 dead or missing.
Isuzu Motors ended up 6.16 per cent at 310 yen after Germany's Manager Magazin reported Wednesday that German carmaker Volkswagen AG is considering either taking over, or taking a stake in, the Japanese truck maker.
Isuzu later denied the report. A Volkswagen spokesman said that a decision on a shareholding isn't on the agenda at present, Dow Jones Newswires said.
Shares in Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the troubled nuclear plant, at which workers have been scrambling to stabilise crippled reactors for nearly five weeks, slipped 0.39 per cent to close at 500 yen.
The yen stayed high at 83.50 to the dollar, from 83.79 in New York Wednesday.
The Japanese currency stood at 121.07 to the euro from 120.98 in New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment