Japan shares gain as optimism around corporate earnings grows

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks ended higher for a
second consecutive session on Tuesday, recovering from last
week's sharp sell-off, as growing optimism around domestic and
U.S. corporate earnings boosted sentiment.
The Nikkei index .N225 closed up 0.97% at 28,362.17
points, with consumer goods, materials makers and real estate
companies leading gains. The broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.83% to
1,844.91.
Japanese stocks took their lead from an overnight jump in
U.S. tech shares ahead of earnings from Amazon.com AMZN.O and
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O later in the day.
In addition, many Japanese companies are reporting earnings
this week, and some investors are betting that a gradual
recovery in the global economy will lift profits.
Worries about a short-squeeze triggered by U.S. retail
investors shook global markets last week, but volatility has
abated this week.
Stocks also benefited from hopes for more U.S. economic
stimulus and a rising number of U.S. coronavirus vaccinations.
"U.S. markets are starting to settle down, so we can turn
our attention back to earnings and fundamentals," said Takashi
Nishizawa, head of research at Nomura Securities.
"The U.S. economy is on a stable footing. There's optimism
about earnings for the U.S. tech sector and Japanese
manufacturers."
Leading gains on Topix, Central Japan Railway Co 9022.T
rose 3.31%, followed by Sony Corp 6758.T gaining 3.05%.
The biggest decliners were Keyence Corp 6861.T and Hoya
Corp 7741.T , falling 2.12% and 1.81%, respectively.
The Japanese government is expected to extend a state of
emergency for Tokyo and surrounding cities later in the day to
curb a spike in coronavirus infections, but investors shrugged
this off as they focused on the earnings outlook. There were 154 advancers on the Nikkei index, against 68
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 1.03 billion, compared with the last
30-day average of 1.16 billion.