TOKYO, Nov. 9, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Japan's 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average crept up 0.2 percent Monday amid concerns about negative U. S. employment data and domestic trends towards share-issuance to raise capital to offset debt. The benchmark Nikkei gained 19.64 points to 9,808.99.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended in negative territory, shedding 0.4 percent to 870.67.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor reported that the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October and non-farm payroll employment continued to decline to -190,000, 91,000 less than previously reported. The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing and the retail trade.
The number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10. 2 percent -- the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed has risen by 8.2 million and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percent.
"The (U.S.) jobs data wasn't all that good. Usually if numbers are worse than expected markets aren't too happy, but the downward revision in terms of jobs lost in August and September shows the situation there is improving. It appears that there's a bit of a movement back towards risk-taking," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
However China-linked shares gained Monday on optimism that key economic data due out later this week will continue to provide investors with propitious cues.
Komatsu Ltd. the world's second-largest maker of construction and mining equipment, gained 1.9 percent to 1,854 yen, whilst Hitachi (NYSE:HIT) Construction Machinery Co. Ltd, rose 2.7 percent to 2,300 yen. Kubota Tractor Corp., leapt 8 percent to 766 yen on optimism regarding the growth of China's economy. "Given that the market is currently out of strong factors as Japan's earnings season comes to a close, investors are now returning to prior themes, such as expectations for Chinese economic growth," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.
In the industry groups, insurance companies entered positive territory Monday, led by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc. (OOTC:MSIGF) The stock jumped 8.6 percent to 2,275 yen, the largest advancer on the Nikkei 225, after its first-half net income unexpectedly rose to 57 billion yen because of smaller-than- expected payouts for typhoons and other natural disasters. "With the typhoon season having passed, we expect any future natural disaster-related losses to be small and think the actual size of these losses will provide upside to full-year earnings. We think this is a good time to reappraise and consider buying non- life insurance stocks based on earnings improvement," said Masayoshi Kobayashi, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc.
