Japanese Stocks Rise as Europe's Debt Concerns Ease, Oil Climbs






Japanese stocks rose for a second day after Deutsche Bundesbank President Axel Weber said a rescue fund for the euro area has sufficient capital to calm financial markets and as oil and metal prices increased.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest carmaker, advanced 0.8 percent. Honda Motor Co., Japan's No. 2 carmaker, climbed 1.1 percent. Mitsubishi Corp., the nation's largest commodities trader, gained 0.4 percent. Sumitomo Chemical Co. jumped 3.1 percent after announcing a plan to build a rubber plant.

"Concerns about financial issues in Europe eased and there's expectation for excess liquidity," said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.4 percent to 10,118.49 as of 9:42 a.m. in Tokyo, set for the highest close since June 21. The broader Topix index increased 0.4 percent to 872.97, with about five stocks gaining for every two that fell. For the week, the Nikkei has advanced 1 percent, while the Topix is up 0.4 percent.

The Nikkei 225 jumped 9.5 percent this month to yesterday. Stocks in the Japanese benchmark are valued at 17.8 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 14.1 times for the Standard &Poor's 500 Index and 12 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

The benchmark Stoxx 600 rose 0.5 percent yesterday after Weber, who is also a European Central Bank Governing Council member, said there's no alternative to the European currency union.

Yen Weakens

Toyota gained 0.8 percent to 3,330 yen and Honda increased 1.1 percent to 3,120 yen. The carmakers were the biggest support for the Topix's gain. TDK Corp., the world's biggest maker of magnetic heads for disk drives, jumped 2.2 percent to 5,660 yen.

The yen depreciated to 83.73 against the dollar, compared with 83.49 at the close of stock trading in Tokyo yesterday. Against the euro, Japan's currency weakened to 111.75 from 111.25. A weaker yen boosts the value of overseas income at Japanese companies when converted into their home currency.

Mitsubishi gained 0.4 percent to 2,137 yen and Mitsui & Co., which counts commodities as its largest source of profit, rose 0.4 percent to 1,340 yen.

The London Metal Exchange Index of prices for six industrial metals including copper and aluminum advanced 1.4 percent yesterday. Crude oil for January delivery gained as much as 0.8 percent yesterday in electronic trading in New York to $84.53 a barrel, the highest price since Nov. 16.

Sumitomo Chemical climbed 3.1 percent to 371 yen, the most in the Nikkei 225. The company said on its Web site it will build a plant in Singapore to produce solution styrene-butadiene rubber, aiming to start commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Japan Airport Terminal Co., the operator of buildings at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, advanced 1.9 percent to 1,317 yen after the company had its rating raised to "outperform" from "neutral" at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.