Japan's Nikkei average hit its highest in nine months today on growing hopes for better-than-expected Japanese corporate earnings and an economic recovery, with top brokerage Nomura Holdings gaining.
Hitachi jumped after the Nikkei business daily said the electronics group plans to spend up to 300 billion yen ($3.2 billion) to turn five listed subsidiaries into wholly owned units. Two sources close to the matter later confirmed the report.
The benchmark Nikkei began a brisk rally earlier this month thanks to a batch of stronger than expected US corporate results such as from Intel. The Nikkei has surged nearly 12 per cent from this month's low of 9,050.33, bringing it more than 40 per cent above its March lows.
It is now poised for a ninth straight day of gains.
However, shares of Japan's top three shippers, including top-ranked Nippon Yusen KK, fell after they slashed their profit forecasts due to a delay in recovery of automobile and container shipping and higher fuel costs.
Hamasaki said the weaker outlooks from the shipping firms was not a big surprise considering lacklustre market conditions in April-June.
The benchmark Nikkei climbed 1.7 per cent or 165.92 points to 10,110.47. It earlier reached 10,179.59, its highest level since October 7th.
The broader Topix rose 1.1 per cent to 930.32.
Nidec rose 3.7 percent to 6,800 yen after the maker of hard disk drive motors raised its operating profit forecast to 50 billion yen for the year ending next March, up 11 percent from its previous estimate, on cost-cutting efforts.
Shares of Hitachi advanced 4.4 per cent to 307 yen.
Hitachi will launch tender offers as early as next month to buy the shares it does not already own in Hitachi Maxell, Hitachi Plant Technologies, Hitachi Information Systems, Hitachi Software Engineering and Hitachi Systems & Services, the sources said.
Shares of the five subsidiaries were untraded by midafternoon, swamped with a glut of buy orders.
Stocks of companies with upbeat earnings prospects climbed to push up the overall market.
Shares of Nomura gained 3.3 per cent to 821 yen and Daiwa Securities Group jumped 3.9 per cent to 556 yen after the Nikkei said the two brokerages likely swung to net profit in the April-June quarter of 10-20 billion yen.
Softbank rose 3.8 per cent to 1,917 yen after the Nikkei said the wireless carrier's April-June group operating profit likely rose 20 per cent from a year earlier, topping 100 billion yen, due to growth in communication fees in its mobile operations and solid business in other areas.
Among stocks that fell, Nippon Yusen lost 4.1 per cent to 401 yen after it said it now expects an operating profit of 20 billion yen for the year ended in March 2010, down 62 percent from its earlier estimate.
Mitsui fell 4.4 per cent to 594 yen and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha sank 7.2 per cent to 350 yen also after cutting their full-year earnings forecasts.
Reuters