TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed 0.51 percent higher Monday as late bargain-hunting offset a slump in mobile carrier Softbank, which is planning a multi-billion-dollar takeover of US-based Sprint Nextel.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed up 43.81 points at 8,577.93, while the Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.65 percent, or 4.67 points, to 722.99.
Softbank was a major drag on the market, with its shares falling 5.30 percent to 2,268 yen. They had tumbled 17 percent Friday on news that it is in talks to buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint for $20 billion.
Europe's debt crisis, China's economic slowdown and concerns over corporate earnings in the United States also weighed on sentiment in early trade.
But oversold auto and steelmaker shares rebounded in the afternoon to lead the major indexes firmly into positive territory, brokers said.
"Sino-Japanese tension has sapped so much from carmaker and other China-exposed shares that they are due for a rebound," an official at a domestic asset manager told Dow Jones Newswires.
Honda Motor rose 3.89 percent to 2,429 yen, Toyota Motor was up 2.07 percent at 2,995 yen and Nissan Motor up 1.35 percent at 675 yen.
The exporters' gains were also due to a decline in the yen against the dollar, which makes Japanese goods less expensive overseas.
The US unit firmed to 78.59 yen against 78.39 yen in US trade, while the euro dipped to $1.2909 and 101.46 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from $1.2958 and 101.60 yen in New York late Friday.
Renesas Electronics' shares soared 14.39 percent to 302 yen after a report that Japan's state-backed turnaround fund and leading domestic firms will invest about $2.55 billion in the troubled chipmaker. (AFP)
