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Staff of Reuters Read for 2 minutes Reuters, TOKYO, July 2 – On Friday, Japanese stocks climbed as a weaker yen boosted export-oriented Sony Group and Toyota Motor, helping to offset weakness in chip-related companies. By 0204 GMT, the Nikkei share average had risen 0.32 percent to 28,798.44, snapping a four-day losing streak, while the wider Topix had risen 0.83 percent to 1,955.34. Despite this, the indices were destined to lose money on a weekly basis. “The weaker yen is supporting shares in automakers as well as other firms, such as Sony,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. “However, their gains are limited by the Nikkei’s heavyweights’ poor performance, such as chip-making equipment manufacturers and Fast Retailing. Topix’s higher gains are due to this.” As the yen fell to its lowest level since March 2020, Sony Group, an exporter of games, cameras, and other electronic home products, surged 3.93 percent. It was also the best performer among the top 30 core Topix names, with a gain of 1.4 percent, followed by Hitachi with a gain of 1.4 percent. Toyota Motor increased by 1.14 percent, Honda Motor increased by 0.79 percent, Nissan Motor increased by 2.96 percent, and Mazda Motor increased by 6.05 percent. The advances in automakers came on the heels of excellent quarterly sales statistics from peers in the United States, indicating that the trend would continue into 2022. Micron Technology brought down the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index, which was dragged down by domestic chip-related stocks. Advantest was down 1.93 percent and Tokyo Electron was down 2.34 percent. After a revelation that French prosecutors had begun an inquiry into four fashion retailers suspected of concealing crimes against humanity in China’s Xinjiang region, Fast Retailing, which owns the Uniqlo clothing brand, declined 0.39 percent. Seven & I Holdings was the worst performer among the Topix 30 companies, down 0.63 percent, followed by Shin-Etsu Chemical, which declined 0.16 percent. Junko Fujita contributed reporting, and Aditya Soni edited the piece./nRead More

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