Friday May 16, 04:38 AM
Tokyo shares end morning off highs after profit-taking - UPDATE
TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese shares were off the session's highs at the end of morning trade on Friday as investors locked in gains after the key Nikkei index (news) surged to a four-month high following better-than-expected economic data.
The Cabinet Office said gross domestic product grew 0.8 percent in the January-March quarter and at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, beating market expectations, as brisk exports to emerging
markets like China countered slower demand in the United States.
'The January-March GDP turned out to be good, but the April-June outlook does not look favorable,' Shinko Securities market analyst Yutaka Miura said.
'While today's data may give some support to the market, it has provided little fresh incentive for investors to buy up stocks,' Miura said.
After rising as high as 14,392.53, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average trimmed gains to end the morning session at 14,273.71, up 21.97 points or 0.2 percent.
The intraday peak was the highest since January. 11.
The broader Topix rose 9.36 points or 0.7 percent to 1,402.23.
Decliners outnumbered gainers 833 to 767, with 113 issues unchanged.
Volume rose slightly to 1.14 billion shares from 1.13 billion shares on Thursday morning.
Shares in Mizuho Financial Group Inc. advanced 3.4 percent to 555,000 yen after Japan's second-largest banking group reported a 49.8 percent drop in net profit for the past year to March due to subprime-related losses, although President Terunobu Maeda said the worst was probably over.
Other banks also advanced, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (Berlin: MFZ.BE - news) up 2.9 percent at 1,111 yen, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group up 2.7 percent at 887,000, and Sumitomo Trust & Banking up 2.2 percent at 903 yen.
Gainers included shipping and steel stocks. Mitsui OSK Lines jumped 4.4 percent to 1,650 yen, Kawasaki Kisen rallied 4.5 percent to 1,244 yen, Nippon Steel (Berlin: NPS.BE - news) climbed 2.8 percent to 659 yen and Sumitomo Metal Industries (Frankfurt: 856878 - news) surged 5.6 percent to 493 yen.
Sony Corp (Munich: 853687 - news) . shed 1.3 percent to 5,200 yen as investors moved to cash in profit after the stock soared nearly 9 percent on Thursday. Major office equipment manufacturer Canon (Berlin: CNN1.BE - news) declined 0.4 percent to 5,570 yen.
($1 = 104.71 yen)
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