国际英语新闻：Nikkei closes up 1.55% on upbeat global economic data

Japanese firms reliant on overseas business cheer a weaker yen as profits are boosted when repatriated. Many Japanese companies have set their assumption rates for dollar/yen at 90 yen and at 110-115 yen for euro/yen in the year to March 2011.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed the week at 9,239.17, up 140.78 points from Thursday, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 6.88 points, or 0.83 percent, at 833.72.

Canon Inc. as a notable gainer on Friday, with the world's largest camera maker jumping 5.6 percent to 3,750 yen. The firm said it plans to buy back as much as 1.2 percent of its outstanding shares for as much as 50 billion yen (595 million U.S. dollars).

Another major contribute to the Nikkei was owner and operator of the Uniqlo chains of budget clothes stores, Fast Retailing.

Fast Retailing surged 5.6 percent to 11,790 yen, following the Nikkei business daily's report that China has decided to allow foreign companies to sell products on the Internet, saying that Fast Retailing will likely be one such company.

Skymark Airlines Inc., however, Japan's largest low-fare carrier, plunged 5.9 percent to 619 yen, after All Nippon Airways Co. announced yesterday it will set up its own budget carrier. All Nippon, Asia's largest carrier, was unchanged at 316 yen.

Some 2.19 billion shares changed hands on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, up from Thursday's volume of 1.30 billion shares, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones by 1,097 to 435.

TOKYO, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks advanced Friday, with the key Nikkei stock index gaining 1.55 percent as upbeat domestic economic data, as well as that from the U.S. and China, coupled with a slightly softer yen against the U.S. dollar, lifted investor sentiment on the last trading day of the week.

Brokers said that news early on that the Incubator Bank of Japan, a lender for small businesses, had for bankruptcy proceedings, had little affect on the market, aside from consumer lenders and a few small affiliates and that the market was largely being buoyed by the U.S. jobless claim figures.

According to the U.S. Labor Department figures, initial claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell by 27,000 to 451,000 last week, a far larger drop than most economists had predicted.

"Recovery in corporate earnings in the U.S. is driving an increase in employment in the private sector," said one Tokyo- based strategist. "Concern about the economy has eased."

Further lifting the market mood Friday was the Cabinet Office revising upwards Japan's gross domestic product (GDP), brokers said.

The nation's GDP stood increased a revised 0.4 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said in a report on Friday. The revised figure matched economists' median forecast and beat the preliminary reading of a 0.1 percent increase and equal a 1.5 percent annualized increase.

"The GDP figure slightly eased concerns that Japan's economy will falter, but it didn't cause us to change our outlook that the economy remains in a mild slowdown in terms both domestic and overseas demand," Mitsumaru Kumagai, chief economist at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo was quoted as saying.

Market players said investors also took heart in the governments new 915 billion yen (10.91 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package unveiled Friday.

The new package is expected to boost real gross domestic product by about 0.3 percent and create some 200,000 jobs.

The government said in an official statement it "will take decisive actions, including market intervention, when necessary" to stem the yen's rise against other major currencies while expressing hope that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will take "additional necessary policy responses to beat deflation in close collaboration with the government."

The government will also encourage Japanese firms to spend more capital in domestic markets. This is due largely to fears that the rising yen is forcing large companies to turn to overseas markets for cheaper labor and other costs.

The yen depreciated to as much as 84.29, compared with 83.64 against the dollar at the close of stock trading in Tokyo yesterday and fell to 106.80 from 106.16 against the euro.

Japanese firms reliant on overseas business cheer a weaker yen as profits are boosted when repatriated. Many Japanese companies have set their assumption rates for dollar/yen at 90 yen and at 110-115 yen for euro/yen in the year to March 2011.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed the week at 9,239.17, up 140.78 points from Thursday, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 6.88 points, or 0.83 percent, at 833.72.

Canon Inc. as a notable gainer on Friday, with the world's largest camera maker jumping 5.6 percent to 3,750 yen. The firm said it plans to buy back as much as 1.2 percent of its outstanding shares for as much as 50 billion yen (595 million U.S. dollars).

Another major contribute to the Nikkei was owner and operator of the Uniqlo chains of budget clothes stores, Fast Retailing.

Fast Retailing surged 5.6 percent to 11,790 yen, following the Nikkei business daily's report that China has decided to allow foreign companies to sell products on the Internet, saying that Fast Retailing will likely be one such company.

Skymark Airlines Inc., however, Japan's largest low-fare carrier, plunged 5.9 percent to 619 yen, after All Nippon Airways Co. announced yesterday it will set up its own budget carrier. All Nippon, Asia's largest carrier, was unchanged at 316 yen.

Some 2.19 billion shares changed hands on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, up from Thursday's volume of 1.30 billion shares, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones by 1,097 to 435.