Japanese shares post modest gains, weak yen supports exporters

* Nikkei up 0.02%, Topix adds 0.37%
* Weak yen helps, but US-China woes, Brexit concerns limit
rise

By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Japanese shares eked out gains on
Tuesday as a weaker yen propped up exporting firms, although
negative factors including the U.S.-China trade war and Brexit
concerns curbed market sentiment.
The Nikkei share average .N225 ended the day up 0.02% at
20,625.16, bucking a more bearish trend in Asia.
There were 146 advancers on the Nikkei index against 71
decliners.
The index seems to have found some support having probed
multi-month lows several times over the past month.
"The Nikkei looks surprisingly steady, with the 20,500 level
for the index proving to be a threshold that attracts bargain
hunters," said Jun Kitazawa, deputy manager of investment
information at Miki Securities.
Still, the Nikkei's gains were modest without leads from the
U.S. markets, which were closed on Monday for holiday.
Also adding to investor caution was the prospect of more
Brexit-related market turmoil.
British lawmakers decide later on Tuesday whether to move
Britain a step closer to an early election, when they vote on
the first stage of their plan to block Prime Minister Boris
Johnson from pursuing a no-deal Brexit. Shares of major exporters advanced as the yen JPY= edged
further away from an eight-month high marked against the dollar
last week.
Toyota Motor Corp 7203.T climbed 0.8%, Subaru 7270.T was
up 2.4% and Panasonic 6752.T added 0.6%.
Nickel-related companies gained as the price of the metal
soared to a five-year high on supply concerns with top producer
Indonesia announcing curbs on ore exports from January 2020, two
years earlier than initially flagged. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co 5713.T climbed 1.8% and Pacific
Metals Co 5541.T gained 2.7%.
Residential and office property firms advanced as a recent
drop in long-term bond yields nudged investor money towards real
estate offering higher returns.
Cosmos Initia Co 8844.T surged 7.5%, Tosei Corp 8923.T
added 3.3% and Pressance Corp 3254.T gained 1.8%.
The broader Topix .TOPX gained 0.37% to 1,510.79.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were Hitachi 6501.T , which rose 1.8%, followed by
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co's 4063.T 1.6% gain.
The worst performers among the Topix 30 were Fanuc Corp
6954.T , which lost 2.3%, followed by Keyence Corp 6861.T ,
down 1.1%.
Share volumes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board were
0.84 billion, compared with the average of 1.1 billion yen in
the past 30 days.