By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei edged higher on Monday, with short-covering in exporters emerging after the benchmark marked its worst week in over a month and as a key retracement level continued to provide support.
Shares in consumer lenders like Acom Co sky-rocketed, with many jumping by nearly a fifth in value after the Mainichi newspaper said Osaka prefecture may set up a special financial zone where tough new lending rules would be eased.
The market shrugged off U.S. nonfarm payrolls data that showed a loss of 125,000 jobs in June and a drop in the unemployment rate to to 9.5 percent, the lowest level since July 2009, with charts showing the benchmark oversold.
In thin trade, the Nikkei rose further above support at 9,200, roughly a 50 percent retracement of the move up from its March 2009 low to its high in April.
'We're seeing a bit of short-covering now that we're past the jobs data, but the market is going to want to see a lot of the other indicators coming up this week, including those linked to consumer spending,' said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
'But if we can close above 9,200 for three straight days -- Friday, today and tomorrow -- we might even see a little bit of a rebound later this week.'
But others said gains were likely to be limited to Monday.
'Knowing that U.S. markets are shut today is giving some investors the assurance to buy, but we could well see a test of support at 9,076 later this week,' said Hideki Horikawa, senior adviser at Himawari Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei rose 0.4 percent or 34.30 points to 9,238.01, while the broader Topix gained 0.6 percent to 836.14.
The Nikkei last week lost 5.5 percent, a decline which market players said underscored its oversold condition.
The Nikkei's slow stochastic, a measure of how oversold the market is and whether it is in a short-term up or down trend, is deep in oversold territory but pointing slightly up, while its MACD, a measure of market momentum, is falling.
Its RSI is at 33, hovering near a six-week low. A figure of 30 or below would indicate that the Nikkei is in oversold territory. It is also just a bit above its lower Bollinger Band, indicating its short-term downtrend is slightly overstretched.
Orders placed through foreign securities houses before the start of trade showed foreign brokers were net buyers for the first time since June 21, but the amount was only 300,000 shares.
Market players said there were few signs of foreigners in the market, noting that U.S. markets are closed on Monday for a holiday.
CONSUMER LENDERS
There are a large number of option triggers on Nikkei futures at 9,000 and 8,500, and Hirakawa said market remains gamma short -- meaning that traders need to follow market moves to hedge their books, often leading to volatile moves.
Consumer lenders, which offer unsecured loans to individuals and small business owners, have been struggling for survival amid a shrinking market and stricter lending regulations.
Acom shot up 22 percent to 1,392 yen. Promise Co gained 16.8 percent to 683 yen and Takefuji Corp jumped 18.2 percent to 299 yen, bouncing back from a record low hit last week.
Shares of exporters gained broadly after many fell to multi-month lows last week, with the dollar climbing further above a seven-month trough against the yen, on demand from Japanese importers.
Sanyo Electric climbed 3.5 percent to 118 yen after sources said on Friday the company is close to finalising the sale of its chip unit to ON Semiconductor, its latest move to shed non-core businesses to focus more on promising areas.
But shares of Fast Retailing dropped 3.7 percent to
12,930 yen after same-store sales at its Uniqlo casual
clothing chain fell 5.8 percent in June from a year earlier, the first year-on-year decline in two months.
It was the biggest drag on the Nikkei and the second-most actively traded stock by turnover on the main board.
((Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
((elaine.lies@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1807; Reuters Messaging:elaine.lies.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS JAPAN STOCKS Reuters Terminal users can see other related news and rates by double-clicking on: All Nikkei indices All shares listed on Nikkei-225 N225 index TOPIX index Nikkei Japan 1000 TOPIX sector data Nikkei 300 index TOPIX futures data Osaka N225 data Chicago N225 data Top 30 by volume Top 30 by value Total volume Total value 1st section sector RICs All TSE weighted avg Top 30 gainers by pct Top 30 losers by pct Top 30 net gainers Top 30 net losers Active Japanese stocks Japan economic indicators ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS: Pan-Asia Japan S.Korea S.E. Asia Hong Kong Taiwan Australia/NZ India China OTHER MARKETS: Wall Street Gold Currency Eurostocks Oil JP bonds ADR Report LME metals US bonds Stocks News US Stocks News Europe DIARIES & DATA: IPO diary & data Asia earnings diary U.S. earnings diary European diary Japan diary Wall Street Week Ahead Eurostocks Week Ahead TOP NEWS: For top Asian company news: Top News Japan U.S. company news Europe company news Forex news Global Economy news All Equity news Tech, Media, Telecoms Banking news Politics/General news Asia Macro data A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at: http://topnews.session.rservices.com LIVE PRICES & DATA: World stocks Currencies Dow Jones/NASDAQ Debt FTSE 100 LME price overview Yen/dollar (Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com * BridgeStation: view story .134 * Reuters Plus: from your WebDSS screen For more information on Top News, visit http://topnews.reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei edged higher on Monday, with short-covering in exporters emerging after the benchmark marked its worst week in over a month and as a key retracement level continued to provide support.
Shares in consumer lenders like Acom Co sky-rocketed, with many jumping by nearly a fifth in value after the Mainichi newspaper said Osaka prefecture may set up a special financial zone where tough new lending rules would be eased.
The market shrugged off U.S. nonfarm payrolls data that showed a loss of 125,000 jobs in June and a drop in the unemployment rate to to 9.5 percent, the lowest level since July 2009, with charts showing the benchmark oversold.
In thin trade, the Nikkei rose further above support at 9,200, roughly a 50 percent retracement of the move up from its March 2009 low to its high in April.
'We're seeing a bit of short-covering now that we're past the jobs data, but the market is going to want to see a lot of the other indicators coming up this week, including those linked to consumer spending,' said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
'But if we can close above 9,200 for three straight days -- Friday, today and tomorrow -- we might even see a little bit of a rebound later this week.'
But others said gains were likely to be limited to Monday.
'Knowing that U.S. markets are shut today is giving some investors the assurance to buy, but we could well see a test of support at 9,076 later this week,' said Hideki Horikawa, senior adviser at Himawari Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei rose 0.4 percent or 34.30 points to 9,238.01, while the broader Topix gained 0.6 percent to 836.14.
The Nikkei last week lost 5.5 percent, a decline which market players said underscored its oversold condition.
The Nikkei's slow stochastic, a measure of how oversold the market is and whether it is in a short-term up or down trend, is deep in oversold territory but pointing slightly up, while its MACD, a measure of market momentum, is falling.
Its RSI is at 33, hovering near a six-week low. A figure of 30 or below would indicate that the Nikkei is in oversold territory. It is also just a bit above its lower Bollinger Band, indicating its short-term downtrend is slightly overstretched.
Orders placed through foreign securities houses before the start of trade showed foreign brokers were net buyers for the first time since June 21, but the amount was only 300,000 shares.
Market players said there were few signs of foreigners in the market, noting that U.S. markets are closed on Monday for a holiday.
CONSUMER LENDERS
There are a large number of option triggers on Nikkei futures at 9,000 and 8,500, and Hirakawa said market remains gamma short -- meaning that traders need to follow market moves to hedge their books, often leading to volatile moves.
Consumer lenders, which offer unsecured loans to individuals and small business owners, have been struggling for survival amid a shrinking market and stricter lending regulations.
Acom shot up 22 percent to 1,392 yen. Promise Co gained 16.8 percent to 683 yen and Takefuji Corp jumped 18.2 percent to 299 yen, bouncing back from a record low hit last week.
Shares of exporters gained broadly after many fell to multi-month lows last week, with the dollar climbing further above a seven-month trough against the yen, on demand from Japanese importers.
Sanyo Electric climbed 3.5 percent to 118 yen after sources said on Friday the company is close to finalising the sale of its chip unit to ON Semiconductor, its latest move to shed non-core businesses to focus more on promising areas.
But shares of Fast Retailing dropped 3.7 percent to
12,930 yen after same-store sales at its Uniqlo casual
clothing chain fell 5.8 percent in June from a year earlier, the first year-on-year decline in two months.
It was the biggest drag on the Nikkei and the second-most actively traded stock by turnover on the main board.
((Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
((elaine.lies@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1807; Reuters Messaging:elaine.lies.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS JAPAN STOCKS Reuters Terminal users can see other related news and rates by double-clicking on: All Nikkei indices All shares listed on Nikkei-225 N225 index TOPIX index Nikkei Japan 1000 TOPIX sector data Nikkei 300 index TOPIX futures data Osaka N225 data Chicago N225 data Top 30 by volume Top 30 by value Total volume Total value 1st section sector RICs All TSE weighted avg Top 30 gainers by pct Top 30 losers by pct Top 30 net gainers Top 30 net losers Active Japanese stocks Japan economic indicators ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS: Pan-Asia Japan S.Korea S.E. Asia Hong Kong Taiwan Australia/NZ India China OTHER MARKETS: Wall Street Gold Currency Eurostocks Oil JP bonds ADR Report LME metals US bonds Stocks News US Stocks News Europe DIARIES & DATA: IPO diary & data Asia earnings diary U.S. earnings diary European diary Japan diary Wall Street Week Ahead Eurostocks Week Ahead TOP NEWS: For top Asian company news: Top News Japan U.S. company news Europe company news Forex news Global Economy news All Equity news Tech, Media, Telecoms Banking news Politics/General news Asia Macro data A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at: http://topnews.session.rservices.com LIVE PRICES & DATA: World stocks Currencies Dow Jones/NASDAQ Debt FTSE 100 LME price overview Yen/dollar (Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com * BridgeStation: view story .134 * Reuters Plus: from your WebDSS screen For more information on Top News, visit http://topnews.reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.