TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 0.13 percent on Tuesday, recouping early losses as the dollar turned higher against the yen.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 20.21 points to 15,381.02, its best finish since December 2007, while the Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.07 percent or 0.88 points to 1,270.39.
Trading was heavy with volume surging to 6.25 billion shares from 4.87 billion the previous day on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Share prices recovered from their weak opening as the dollar ticked up.
"Under the current bullish sentiment, buying on dips can easily emerge as long as the yen stays weak," said Katsuhiro Kondo, a broker at Tokai Tokyo Securities. "Today, we just saw that scenario again."
The greenback was changing hands at 102.57 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from 102.26 yen in New York late Monday. The euro rose to 132.18 yen from 131.76 yen in New York and to $1.2891 from $1.2884.
"Foreign investor money flows remain very strong, limiting selloffs," said Monex market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama.
A strong yen is bad for Japanese exporters as it makes their products less competitive abroad and reduces income when repatriated.
Utilities were up sharply on hopes for nuclear generator re-starts, with Tokyo Electric Power up 12.25 percent to 815 yen.
Sharp was up 8.69 percent to 600 yen after closing up 17 percent on Monday with the daily limit gain of 80 yen on speculation that its solar power business would benefit from a Goldman Sachs investment.
The US investment banking giant said Monday it will start investing in Japanese renewable energy projects, with a reported $2.9 billion outlay over the next five years.
Tuesday's gain came after the Asahi Shimbun reported Sharp plans to raise 40 billion yen through selling its television factory in Malaysia and its US subsidiary and solar energy developer Recurrent Energy.
SoftBank fell 3.78 percent to 5,850 yen after a Nikkei daily reported that the company planned a record-breaking sale of retail bonds to Japanese investors of around 400 billion yen.
US stocks slipped Monday after surging to new record-high closes last week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.12 percent to 15,335.28.
Investors were now waiting for testimony by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday to learn his thoughts on the US economy and get an indication of how soon the bank might wrap up its easy money policies.
The Bank of Japan was also to start a two-day policy meeting to Wednesday. Few expect the bank to take fresh measures after its massive monetary easing in early April drove the yen down to multi-year lows against the dollar. (AFP)
