Japanese benchmark index closed higher after the EU leaders pledged to support member nation Greece. Higher profit estimates from Asahi Glass, Pacific Metals and recovering demand at Yamaha Motor boosted sentiment.
Commodities price increase also listed stocks of trading companies.
A government report also showed that consumers are confident about economic conditions in the next six months.
In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.3% or 128.2 to 10, 092.19, and the broader Topix Index advanced 1% to 892.16.
In the firsts section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 10.1 billion shares valued at 687 billion yen were traded and in the second section 159 million shares worth 2.1 billion yen changed hands.
Of the Nikkei 225 index stocks, 165 increased, 47 fell, and 13 were unchanged. GS Yuasa Corp. led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 9.7% followed by Taiheiyo Cement jumping 8%.
Consumer Confidence Rises in January
Japan’s Cabinet Office reported today that the Consumer Confidence Index, which measures economic confidence for the next six months, rose 1.4 points to 39 in January from a month ago.
The index also gained 12.6 points from a year ago.
A measure of overall livelihoods gained to 39.8 from 38.2, while income growth jumped to 37.9 from 36.1 in December.
Employment index climbed to 33.1 in the period from 30.8 a month earlier.
The measure on the willingness to buy durable goods advanced 45.3 in January from 45.1 in December.
U.S. Sales of Nintendo Wii Console Falls 31%
U.S. sales of Nintendo Co’s Wii video-game console dropped 31% to $1.2 billion in January, according to the latest research published by NPD Group in the U.S.
Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 sales increased 36% and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 sales gained 7.7%.
Wii sales in the U.S. are expected to decline in 2010.
The report noted that stores sold 465,800 Wii players compared with 332,800 Xbox consoles and 276,900 Sony’s PS3s.
Kirin Profit Falls 39% in 2009
Kirin Holdings said net profit decreased 38.7% to 49.2 billion yen on special losses and pre-tax profit gained 40.3% to 144.6 billion yen.
The company noted that special losses increased to 96.55 billion yen, including 38.8 billion yen in asset impairment loses. Consolidated operating profit dropped 12% to 128.4 billion yen.
