Tokyo - Japanese stocks climbed, with the Topix index rising the most in almost five months and rebounding from four days of losses, as the yen slid against the dollar.
Honda Motor Co., a carmaker that gets 83 percent of sales outside Japan, gained 3 percent.
Shizuki Electric Co. jumped 2.6 percent after the energy-equipment maker increased its profit forecast.
Advantest Corp. slumped 4.4 percent after the manufacturer of semiconductor-testing devices said it expects a wider loss this fiscal year.
The Topix advanced 2.6 percent to 1,256.18 at the close in Tokyo, the steepest rally since September 3, after yesterday closing at the lowest level since December 16.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 2.7 percent to 15,383.91 as only four shares on the gauge fell.
The yen slid 0.4 percent to 103.34 per dollar after Turkey’s central bank more than doubled its benchmark interest rate to stem a currency slump, reducing demand for haven assets.
The US Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day meeting today.
“The market will like that developing nations’ currencies stopped falling, US and European shares climbed and the yen weakened,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., a unit of Japan’s second-biggest lender.
“Investors will give a renewed look at risk assets on the back of the global economic recovery.”
European and US equity benchmarks advanced yesterday as London-listed miners climbed and earnings at firms from Pfizer Inc. to D.R. Horton Inc. topped estimates.
More than 500 companies on the Japanese equity measure report earnings this week, with about 640 filing results next week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Company Forecasts
Shizuki rose 2.6 percent to 466 yen after the firm raised its full-year net income forecast 31 percent to 1.37 billion yen ($13.3 million).
Advantest fell 4.4 percent to 1,153 yen after saying it expects wider losses than the average analyst estimate.
Japan Exchange Group Inc. surged 7.3 percent to 2,711 yen, the biggest increase since September 10.
Japan’s main exchange operator, formed last year from the merger of the Tokyo and Osaka bourses, will start trading JPX-Nikkei Index 400 futures this year, Hiromi Yamaji, head of the Osaka Securities Exchange, said in an interview.
The Topix slid 3.5 percent this year amid concern that economic growth is slowing in China and as the US central bank cuts stimulus.
The measure jumped 51 percent in 2013 as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan took steps to end 15 years of deflation.
The Japanese stock gauge yesterday traded at 1.24 times the value of its net assets, compared with a book value of 2.57 for the Standard & Poor’s Index and 1.80 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.
Futures on the S&P 500 jumped 0.5 percent today after the equity measure advanced 0.6 percent yesterday.
Exporters rose. Honda gained 3 percent to 4,004 yen.
Toyota Motor Corp. advanced 2 percent to 6,136 yen.
Nikon Corp., the camera maker that gets 85 percent of sales outside Japan, climbed 1.8 percent to 1,915 yen. - Bloomberg News