Lessening tensions help Nikkei and Topix

The Tokyo markets were up slightly on Monday, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.3 percent to 11,073.77 and the Topix advancing by 0.1 percent to 1,132.17.

These advances were spurred by anticipation of the release of several domestic quarterly earnings reports and signs that tensions with China were lessening even though a weekend meeting between leaders of Japan and China did not completely resolve the dispute over a Japanese history textbook.

The pharmaceuticals sector was generally up. Chugai Pharmaceutical, the Japanese associate of Switzerland’s Roche, rose 1.9 percent on the sales of its flu drug Tamiflu’s influence on quarterly profits.

This news helped send rival companies higher as well, with Sankyo up 2.2 percent and Takeda Pharmaceutical advancing by 1.6 percent.

The technology sector was mixed. Hitachi rose 0.3 percent in anticipation of an expected positive quarterly earnings report, and Matsushita Electric Industrial was up 0.3 percent. But Trend Micro fell 4.2 percent after computers using its software were victims of a programming bug over the weekend.

In the transportation sector, West Japan Railway fell 3.6 percent after a fatal accident involving one of its trains. Japan Airlines fell 0.7 percent.

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