Nikkei gains as trade tensions ease; Apple suppliers, chip-related shares outperform

By Tomo Uetake
TOKYO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei rose for a third
straight day on Tuesday as investors tiptoed back into equities
amid signs of a slight easing of trade tensions between the
United States and China.
Hopes for fresh stimulus moves by major economies also
boosted riskier assets.
On Monday, Washington extended a reprieve that permits
China's Huawei Technologies HWT.UL to buy components from U.S.
companies by 90 days, to supply existing customers. The Nikkei share average .N225 rose 0.6% to 20,677.22
points, while the broader Topix .TOPX added 0.8% to 1,506.77.
"It's like an extension of yesterday's rally -- largely
buoyed by short-covering although the moves seemed to lack
strong conviction," said a Tokyo-based investment manager.
Investors were growing cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal
Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium and G7 (Group of Seven) summit
later in the week, he said.
On Wall Street, all three major stock indexes gained
overnight, with Apple AAPL.O jumping 1.9% to provide the
biggest boost to the Nasdaq. .N/C
That helped Tokyo-listed Apple suppliers, with Taiyo Yuden
6976.T and TDK Corp 6762.T rising 1.6% and Foster Electric
6794.T advancing 1.4%.
After speaking with Apple's chief executive Tim Cook on
Sunday, U.S President Donald Trump said the CEO "made a good
case" that tariffs could hurt Apple, given that Samsung's
products would not be subject to those same tariffs. Tokyo-listed chipmaking-related firms also got a boost after
the U.S. Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX climbed 1.9% on
Monday as Huawei's U.S. chip suppliers, such as Micron
Technology MU.O , rose.
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Screen Holdings
7735.T surged 5.4% and chipmaking equipment supplier Tokyo
Electron 8035.T rallied 1.4%.
Rate-sensitive TSE REIT index .TREIT rose 0.3%, extending
its winning streak to an eighth day to hit its fresh 12-year
highs since 2007. Real estate .IRLTY.T was the best performing sector among
the Tokyo market's 33 subindexes, with both Mitsui Fudosan
8801.T and Mitsubishi Estate 8802.T up 1.7%.
Hopes for additional stimulus helped sentiment after media
reports said Germany is prepared to increase fiscal spending,
and after the People's Bank of China took steps to lower
corporate borrowing costs by setting a new lending reference
rate. Turnover on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was thin
at 1.58 trillion yen, well below its daily average of 2.33
trillion yen over the past year.