Japan Stocks Get Weak-yen Boost; NTT Up On M&A Report

Japanese stocks posted some solid gains at the Monday open, helped in no small part by a weaker yen as the dollar rose to �119.94, up from late Friday's �119.34. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.5%, carrying on from a 0.1% improvement in the previous session, while the Topix was 0.4% higher. The currency-sensitive tech and industrial stocks were among the leading gainers, with Casio Computer Co. up 2.2%, TDK Corp. up 2.5%, Komatsu Ltd. up 1.1%, Murata Manufacturing Co. up 1.8%, and Panasonic Corp. enjoying a 1.6% boost after hiking its year-end dividend. On the other hand, Sony Corp. fell 1.3%, possibly weighed by some profit-taking after a 2% rally on Friday. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. saw its shares rise 2.3% following a Nikkei report Saturday that one of its units was in late-stage talks to buy German data-center operator E-Shelter for about $830 million. Among other notable movers, Sekisui House Ltd. rose 2.4%, Astellas Pharma Inc. added 2.5%, Obayashi Corp. fell 1.4%, and Japan Display Inc. pulled back by 2%.