Stocks in Japan traded higher Thursday, fueled by strength in
the U.S. overnight and extending yesterday's gains that put the
Topix index into positive territory for the year.
The Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.6%, still down 2.5% for the
year so far. But the Topix, a measure of the largest firms trading
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 0.9% Thursday and up 0.6%
year-to-date.
"The Nikkei's average price-to-earnings value stands at around
15.22 times against 16 times for the Topix and around 17 times for
U.S. shares, " says SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of
equities Hiroichi Nishi. "With continued dollar support, the
exporter-heavy Nikkei could very well see more buying to bring it
more in line with its peers."
The gains came despite the dollar weakening--it was last at
Yen106.78 from Yen106.85 late Wednesday in New York.
In the U.S., shares rebounded after two days of losses, helped
by technology stocks including Apple Inc. The sector has been a
focus for Asian investors this week, as stocks of Apple's suppliers
have reacted to the launch of the firm's new products.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 was roughly flat.
Bradford Frischkorn contributed to this article.
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