(Adds stocks and comments)
By Taiga Uranaka
TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average rose 1.6
percent on Friday, with exporters such as Canon Inc <7751.T>
buoyed by a weaker yen and optimism over the U.S. economy after
surprisingly strong figures on jobs and retail sales.
A jump in oil prices boosted natural resource stocks such as
oil and gas field developer Inpex Holdings Inc <1605.T> and
trading house Mitsubishi Corp <8058.T>.
"Since the begining of this month, top financial officials in
the United States and Europe have made comments that have
provided support to Japanese shares," said Masayoshi Okamoto,
head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.
Remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke earlier this
week helped lift the dollar against the yen, one of the biggest
driving factors for export-oriented Japanese stocks.
Bernanke said rising long-term inflation expectations were a
"significant concern" for policy-makers and made a rare warning
about the inflationary threat from a weak U.S. currency.
The benchmark Nikkei <> ended the morning up 222.02
points at 14,563.14. The broader TOPIX index <> gained 1.1
percent to 1,440.26.
With worries about the credit crisis receding, the Nikkei has
gained about 23 percent from this year's low touched on March 17.
"The market has been lifted simply by foreign investors
buying back shares they had sold," said Masaru Hamasaki, a senior
strategist at Toyota Asset Management.
Foreign investors bought a net 1.13 trillion yen ($10.67
billion) of Japanese stocks in May, their highest monthly buying
since June 2007, Tokyo Stock Exchange data showed on Thursday.
"Whether the market goes up further depends on Japanese
corporate earnings. Are companies really going to post a fall in
earnings for this business year?" Hamasaki said.
Japanese companies forecast a 4.8 percent decline in
recurring profit for the business year to next March 31,
according to Shinko Research Institute, which tracks profit
forecasts by almost all the firms listed on the Tokyo stock
exchange's first section.
EXPORTERS UP
Digital camera maker Canon rose 2.3 percent to 5,770 yen, and
Sony Corp <6758.T> gained 1.7 percent to 5,510 yen.
The dollar slipped from Thursday's high of 106.42 yen <JPY=>
to 106.10 yen but remained near a three-month peak. Many
exporters made earnings projections on the assumption that the
dollar would average 100 yen in the business year to March 2009.
Inpex jumped 4.8 percent to 1.31 million yen and Mitsubishi
Corp climbed 2.3 percent to 3,610 yen after U.S. crude oil
futures rebounded from two days of sharp losses and ended up more
than 4 percent on Thursday <CLN8>.
Among shares in the spotlight was Japan Tobacco Inc <2914.T>,
which fell 4.3 percent to 492,000 yen after media reported the
government may lift the tobacco tax, increasing the price of a
pack of cigarettes to 1,000 yen ($9.44) from around 300 yen, in
face of rising pension and welfare spending.
That would be a big blow for Japan Tobacco, the world's No.3
tobacco maker, which is already grappling with shrinking
cigarette demand in Japan due to an ageing population and
widening health consciousness.
Trade picked up, with 1.2 billion shares changing hands
compared to last week's morning average of 857 million.
Advancers outpaced decliners by 928 to 642.
($1=105.90 Yen)
(Editing by Michael Watson)
