Tokyo, Feb 4 (DPA) Japanese stocks jumped more than 1 percent in Friday morning trading, bolstered by a merger plan by top Japanese steelmakers and expectations for the US economic recovery.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 118.66 points, or 1.14 percent, to trade at 10,550.02 while the broader Topix index was up 9.25 points, or 1 percent, at 936.82.
Japan’s largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp, and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd said Thursday that they planned to merge by October 2012, creating the world’s second largest steelmaker after Dutch-registered ArcelorMittal in terms of crude steel production capacity.
Investor sentiment was further buoyed by positive earnings reports from major US and Japanese companies. Hitachi Ltd said yesterday its net profit for the October-December quarter almost tripled to 62 billion yen ($760 million) year-on-year and revised upward its full-year profit outlook.
On currency markets at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 81.64-67 yen, up slightly from Thursday’s 5 p.m. quote of 81.54-56 yen.
The euro traded at 1.3625-3627 dollars, down from $1.3811-3813 Thursday, and at 111.25-27 yen, down from 112.62-66 yen.
