Friday May 16, 02:12 AM
Tokyo shares open higher after strong GDP data - UPDATE
TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese shares opened higher on Friday as investors cheered better-than-expected gross domestic product data.
The Cabinet Office said gross domestic product expanded 0.8 percent in real terms in the January-March
quarter and at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, buoyed by brisk exports to emerging markets like China.
The growth beat market expectations. Ten economists polled by Thomson Financial News were looking at 0.4 percent growth for the quarter and an annualized pace of 1.5 percent, on average.
The GDP data showed solid growth in consumption, said Yumi Nishimura, manager for equity
marketing at Daiwa Securities SMBC, which should support the equity market 'for a week or two.'
At 9.42 a.m. (0042 GMT), the Nikkei (news) 225 Stock Average was up 74.79 points or 0.5 percent at 14,326.53.
The broader Topix rose 8.28 points or 0.6 percent to 1,401.15.
Shares of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. advanced 2.8 percent to 552,000 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 is probably over.
Other banks also advanced with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (Berlin: MFZ.BE - news) up 2 percent at 1,102 yen, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group up 1.9 percent at 880,000, and Sumitomo Trust & Banking up 1.7 percent at 899 yen.
Other early gainers include shipping and steel issues. Mitsui OSK Lines jumped 4.1 percent to
1,646 yen while Nippon Steel (Berlin: NPS.BE - news) rose 2 percent to 654 yen.
($1 = 104.64 yen)
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