Japan shares hold firm on trade hopes, Topix touches 9-1/2-month high

By Tomo Uetake
TOKYO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Japanese shares edged up on
Thursday, tracking an upbeat Wall Street session, as investors
welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's hints of progress toward
a trade deal with Beijing, with auto and China-related stocks
leading the gains.
The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 added 0.1% to
22,048.24, while the broader Topix .TOPX advanced as much as
1.0% to 1,635.88, its highest intra-day level since Dec. 5, and
ended the session up 0.2%.
President Trump stoked trade optimism on Wednesday by saying
China wants "to make a deal very badly" and an agreement to end
a nearly 15-month trade war with China "could happen sooner than
you think." His comments pushed market concern about U.S. political
risks into the background, a day after Democrat lawmakers said
they will open an impeachment inquiry into Trump's dealings with
his Ukraine counterpart.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX notched its biggest daily
gain in two weeks, while the Dow .DJI and the Nasdaq .IXIC
also advanced on Wednesday. .N/C
In Japan, China-related issues led the gains, with Fanuc
6954.T gaining 2.4%, Daikin Industries 6367.T up by 1.5% and
Komatsu 6301.T adding 0.9%.
Automobile shares rallied after the head of Japan's car
industry group said trade discussions between the United States
and Japan were headed in the direction of avoiding auto tariffs
and that it was good for both countries. Toyota Motor 7203.T
rose 1.1%. U.S. President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
signed a limited trade deal on Wednesday that staved off the
threat of higher duties on Japanese cars exported to the United
States. Highly cyclical iron and steel .ISTEL.T and sea transport
.ISHIP.T were among the best performing sectors of the
bourse's 33 subsector indexes, up 2.4% and 1.1%, respectively.
Start-up firms also attracted buyers, with the Nikkei Jasdaq
index .NOTC rising for the 14th consecutive session to close
up 0.2%.

(Editing by Richard Borsuk and Darren Schuettler)