TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei rose on Friday as investors snapped up cyclical stocks, while Nintendo jumped after Tencent won approval to sell its Switch console in China.The Nikkei share average ended 0.5 per cent higher at 22,200.56 points.
For the week, the index rose 1.5 per cent to post its third straight week of gains.Shares of Nintendo Co soared after China's Tencent won a key approval to begin selling Nintendo's Switch console in China, the world's largest games market.
The video game maker's shares ended up 14 per cent.Risk appetite was buoyed by overnight gains in US markets, which were driven by robust economic data, while industrial stocks rallied after China's commerce ministry said there had been new progress in US-China trade talks."The mood has recovered as the market has been able to confirm that a slowdown in the Chinese economy has hit bottom, and that the US and China are making progress in their trade talks.
Those were the market's main concerns," said Takashi Ito, an equity market strategist at Nomura Securities.China's economy grew at a steady 6.4 per cent pace in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, defying expectations for a further slowdown, as industrial production jumped sharply and consumer demand showed signs of improvement.
But analysts cautioned it is too early to call a sustainable recovery."While such macro data is improving, US companies started releasing their earnings, and Japanese companies' earnings will be in focus later in the month as well," Ito said.Machinery, sea transport and electronics stocks outperformed, offsetting weakness in defensive stocks such as railroad operators and utility firms.Tokyo Electron rose 2.3 per cent, Fanuc added 1.4 per cent, Okuma soared 2.3 per cent, Kawasaki Kisen advanced 1.2 per cent.
East Japan Railway shed 1.1 per cent and Tokyo Gas declined 1.7 per cent.Meanwhile, Nissan Motor dropped 2.2 per cent after the Nikkei business daily said that it will cut global production by about 15 per cent for the current fiscal year ending March 2020, which would be the steepest production cut in more than a decade by the Japanese automaker.Later in the day, Nissan said that the report was completely incorrect and said that its production plan for the current fiscal year will be disclosed on May 14.The broader Topix gained 0.1 per cent to 1,616.93.