TOKYO, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index closed slightly higher Tuesday as a softer yen helped lift exporter issues, but concerns were reignited that the U.S. Federal Reserve may continue with its aggressive rate hikes to combat inflation.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 65.47 points, or 0.24 percent, from Monday to close the day at 27,885.87.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, edged up 2.32 points, or 0.12 percent, to finish at 1,950.22.
The U.S. dollar breached the 137-yen level following an unexpected pick up in the U.S. services industry activity in November, said local brokers.
Although the yen’s weakness supported some issues with a heavy overseas footprint, they added that the U.S. services sector data renewed fears that the Fed may roll back on its dovish remarks regarding the future course of its monetary tightening and stick with aggressive hikes to deal with inflation.
“As the yen weakened, some shares looked attractive,” Chihiro Ohta, assistant general manager at the investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities, was quoted as saying.
Other market strategists said while some investors sought out high technology issues and exporter shares, others opted for bargains and bought on dips.
“The market took cues from the U.S. market and was down earlier, but there was demand for buying on dips mainly from retail investors,” Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities, was quoted as saying.
By the close of play, insurance, iron and steel, and other product-linked issues comprised those that gained the most.
Heavily weighted technology issues buoyed the broader market, with Advantest gaining 0.9 percent and Tokyo Electron advancing 1 percent. Industrial robot maker Fanuc, meanwhile, ended the day 1.1 percent higher.
Nikkei’s heavyweight Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo clothing store chain, supported the market by climbing 2 percent.
Exporters finding favor on the yen’s weakness included Subaru jumping 2.9 percent, Mazda Motor accelerating 3.2 percent and Yamaha Motor adding 2 percent.
Issues related to the World Cup lost ground after Japan was beaten by Croatia on penalties in the first round of the knockouts at the soccer tournament in Qatar.
Among these, CyberAgent, which is streaming World Cup matches on its online Abema platform, dropped 4.1 percent.
British-themed pub chain, Hub, which is screening the games on its venues’ screens, tumbled 6.2 percent by the close.
Issues that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,044 to 723, while 69 ended the day unchanged.
On the Prime Market on Tuesday, 1,016.22 million shares changed hands, falling from Monday’s volume of 1,069.25 million shares.
The turnover on the second trading day of the week came to 2,586.51 billion yen (18.91 billion U.S. dollars).