Tokyo stocks rebound on U.S. retail data,yen's retreat

Tokyo stocks rose sharply Wednesday reversing losses from the previous day's slump, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index adding 2.5 percent as upbeat U.S.Cast iron clawfoot tubssales data restored faith in the world's largest economy and the yen snapping a three-day rally further prompted investors to pick up export, real estate and insurance-related issues.Market players here said that investors followed leads from Wall Street overnight that saw indices rise significantly following better-than-expected data from the U.S. Commerce Department showing that retail sales rose 0.2 percent in December, on year-end, festive shopping.Senior economists here said that investor anxiety was eased by the upbeat retail sales data, which saw sales in the recording period total 431.9 billion U.S. dollars in December, rising 0.2 percent from a month earlier and beating median economists' forecasts of a 0.1 percent increase.Mitsushige Akino, a chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, noted that based on Wednesday's data and market reactions, the U.S. economy would continue to recover steadily, supported by ongoing monetary stimulus.Local fund managers also added that prior concerns about the health of the U.S. economy, following Clawfoot tub faucets disappointing jobs data that sent the Nikkei plunging more than 3 percent on Tuesday, abated during trading hours Wednesday and investor appetite for riskier assets returned, buoyed by the yen snapping a three-day rally and sliding 0.2 percent to 104.42 against the U.S. dollar following a 1.2 percent drop on Wednesday.

Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co.'s senior strategist, Masaru Hamasaki, said that the yen was a major influence on markets here and that stocks were sold based on the robust retail data, and, following Tuesday's slump, became affordable propositions.The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 386.33 points to close at 15,808.73, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 25.44 points, or 2.0 percent, to finish the day at 1,294.52.All of the 33 sector indexes advanced Wednesday with export- related issues gaining traction from the yen's retreat against other major currencies.Panasonic leapt 3.7 percent to 1,368 yen, logging the consumer electronics maker's highest close since April 2010, while Sharp Corp. gained 2.4 percent to close at 342 yen.Hitachi Ltd. jumped 4.1 percent to 867 yen, booking its highest closing level since July 2007, following reports of a potential record third-quarter earnings report. Toshiba surged 4.6 percent to 483 yen, on news it will buy a major stake in NuGen,Among insurance-related issues that advanced, Dai-ichi Life Insurance leapt 4.4 percent to 1,769 yen, while Tokio Marine Holdings gained 2.9 percent to close at 3,361 yen.Despite Japan Airlines tyre equipmentsannouncing it had grounded one of its Dreamliner jets following white smoke being detected during a maintenance check and possibly connected to the Dreamliner's ongoing battery issues, the carrier rose 1.33 percent to 5,300 yen. All Nippon Airways, meanwhile, advanced 0.89 percent to finish at 225 yen.Trading volume on Wednesday dropped to 2.68 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, down from Tuesday's volume of 3.01 billion shares, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones by 1,555 to 159.