TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
hit its highest in 1-1/2 years on Friday, led by gains in
chip-related heavyweights, as investors cheered announcements of
domestic firms' shareholder returns at the peak of the earnings
season.
The Nikkei rose to as high as 29,408.06, its highest
since Nov. 2021, before ending the morning session up 0.80% at
29,359.43. The index is set to rise 0.69% for the week.
The broader Topix rose 0.56% to 2,094.72 and is
poised to gain 0.87%.
"Corporate outlook was not necessary all good. We saw some
positive outcome but also there were disappointments," said
Seiichi Suzuki, chief equity market analyst at Tokai Tokyo
Research Institute.
"But many companies have announced share buybacks and other
measures to give returns to shareholders. That raised investor
sentiment and boosted the market."
A slew of Japanese firms have announced share buyback plans
and more dividend payouts during the earnings season.
Notable examples are the nation's top trading houses,
including Mitsubishi Corp , which flagged continued
rewards to shareholders this financial year - either with hikes
to dividends or stock buybacks or both.
Mitsubishi shares rose 0.22% on Friday and have posted a
near-7% gain so far this month.
Heavyweight Tokyo Electron Ltd cut early losses to
jump 2.23% even as Japan's leading maker of semiconductor
manufacturing tools flagged a lower-than-expected annual
operating profit.
Its peer Advantest Corp gained 2.64%.
Bucking the trend, SoftBank Group Corp fell 2.98%
and weighed on the Nikkei the most after the Japanese technology
investor posted an annual loss that was more than three times as
big as market expectations.
Sharp Corp tanked 7.37% after the electronics maker
reported a surprise $1.9 billion loss on writedowns of its panel
display business and other assets.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Varun H K)
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