Japanese Stocks Advance After Jobs Increase in U.S., Commodity Prices Gain

Japanese stocks rose, driving the Nikkei 225 Stock Average to its fourth straight gain, after a government report last week showed the U.S. added more jobs than forecast, and as commodity prices increased.

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-biggest carmaker that receives about 42 percent of its revenue from North America, climbed 2.9 percent as the yen weakened. Fanuc Ltd., Japan’s largest industrial robot maker, advanced 2.3 percent. Mitsui & Co., the country’s No. 2 trading house by market value, increased 3 percent. JX Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest oil refiner and copper producer, rallied 6.3 percent after raising its full-year profit forecast.

“The jobs report shows the U.S. economy is heading toward a mild recovery,” said Naoki Fujiwara, a fund manager in Tokyo who helps oversee $6 billion at Shinkin Asset Management Co. “Commodity prices have been strong, and they will probably stay steady for a while.”

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1 percent to 9,722.66 at the 11 a.m. break in Tokyo, advancing for a fourth day, the longest winning streak since the period ending Sept. 6. The broader Topix index gained 0.8 percent to 841.34, with almost three stocks climbing for each one that fell.

The Topix index climbed 3 percent last week, the biggest weekly gain since the period ended July 9, on optimism the U.S. Federal Reserve will succeed in stoking growth in the world’s biggest economy. Stocks in the gauge trade at an average 15 times estimated earnings, compared with 38.1 times at the start of the year.

Exporters Gain

Exporters climbed on optimism demand will increase in the U.S. Honda gained 2.9 percent to 2,965 yen, while Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest carmaker, advanced 1.8 percent to 778 yen. Sony Corp., an electronics maker that earns about 70 percent of sales outside of Japan, climbed 1.5 percent to 2,751 yen. Car and electronics makers were the biggest contributors to the Topix index’s advance.

Fanuc, which receives about 12 percent of its revenue from the Americas, gained 2.3 percent to 12,330 yen and was the biggest contributor to the Nikkei 225’s advance.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent today. The index climbed 0.4 percent on Nov. 5 after U.S. Labor Department figures showed payrolls climbed by 151,000, exceeding the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Private payrolls that exclude government agencies also gained more than forecast, and the jobless rate held at 9.6 percent.

Exporters also gained as the yen weakened against the dollar. The yen depreciated to as much as 81.41 to the dollar today in Tokyo, compared with 80.81 at the close of stock trading on Nov. 5. A weaker yen boosts the value of overseas income at Japanese companies when converted into their home currency.

Commodities Climb

Commodity producers climbed after oil and metal prices increased. Mitsui & Co. rose 3 percent to 1,359 yen, while Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest commodities trader, advanced 0.6 percent to 2,099 yen. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan’s biggest gold producer, gained 1.7 percent to 1,403 yen.

JX Holdings jumped 6.3 percent to 527 yen after raising its full-year net income forecast by 19 percent. It was the second- biggest contributor to the Topix index’s gains after Honda, and had the second-steepest advance in the Nikkei 225.

Crude oil for December delivery rose 0.4 percent in New York on Nov. 5 to $86.85 a barrel, the highest settlement price since Oct. 8, 2008. The London Metal Exchange Index of prices for six industrial metals including copper and aluminum gained 0.3 percent, and gold futures surged to a record.

Credit Saison Co., a Japanese credit-card company, jumped 6.5 percent to 1,249 yen, after boosting its full-year net income forecast 33 percent. The stock had the biggest gain in Nikkei 225.

Among stocks that fell, Resona Holdings Inc., Japan’s fourth-biggest bank, tumbled 8.2 percent to 470 yen, the steepest drop in the Nikkei 225. The lender said Nov. 5 it plans to sell as much as 600 billion yen of common stock over the next year, using the proceeds and 300 billion yen of reserves to buy back preferred stock from the government and retire the shares.