Tokyo: Shares close up but Mitsubishi Materials plunges

[TOKYO] Tokyo shares rose Friday, rebounding from earlier losses thanks to late bargain-hunting, but Mitsubishi Materials dropped more than eight percent after news emerged of a quality control scandal.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.12 per cent, or 27.70 points, to close at 22,550.85. Over the week, the index rose 0.69 per cent.

The broader Topix index added 0.20 per cent, or 3.48 points, to 1,780.56, gaining 0.95 per cent from last Friday.

"Investors were buying on dips in the afternoon, confirming that the Nikkei is hitting a near-term bottom," said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.

"Monitoring external factors, investors are likely to confirm next week if the market is back to another upward trend," Mr Sato told AFP.

Tokyo investors returned to trade after a national holiday on Thursday, when the US markets were also closed for Thanksgiving, while European bourses put in a lukewarm performance.

In early trade, selling pressure emerged due to a strong yen and sharp falls in the Shanghai market on Thursday that fuelled fears the Chinese market could be in for a period of turmoil.

The US dollar stood at 111.54 yen, up from 111.21 in Europe Thursday, but down from levels above 112 yen seen in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Mitsubishi Materials plunged 8.06 per cent to 3,760 yen after admitting that its group firms falsified data and shipped products that did not meet orders from customers.

Sony firmed 0.68 per cent to 5,323 yen and SoftBank jumped 1.39 per cent to 9,784 yen.

But Panasonic fell 0.17 per cent to 1,693.5 yen and Toyota fell 0.79 per cent to 7,023 yen.

AFP