Nikkei snaps losing streak

TOKYO - Japanese stocks snapped a two-day losing streak and ended about 1 per cent higher yesterday after gains on Wall Street fuelled buying in Tokyo Electron and other high-tech shares.

Sony Corp, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, helped market sentiment by jumping 5.99 per cent to 3890 ($56.30) thanks in part to the cover story of Barron's July 14 edition, which said Sony's stock might double in two years.

The Nikkei average closed up 1.25 per cent, or 120.28 points, at 9755.63 after slipping 3.22 per cent on Friday.

"Basically, there are quite a lot of people looking to buy on dips and we saw a pretty big dip on Friday," said Garry Evans, chief strategist at HSBC. "In valuation terms [price to forecast operating profit] the market in Japan is still pretty cheap. We could have another 15 per cent in this market over the rest of this year."

Some shares that were hit hard at the end of last week bounced back, with Internet investor Softbank Corp rallying 11.11 per cent to 3200 and fibre-optics maker Furukawa Electric rising 7.55 per cent to 470.

- NZPA