Japan Stocks Pull Higher After Choppy Open; Mitsui Fudosan Rallies

Japanese stocks opened to choppy trade Wednesday but soon managed to pull higher, with The Nikkei Stock Average up 0.4% about 45 minutes into trade, trimming a 1.8% drop Tuesday. The Topix firmed by 0.3%, and the dollar was changing hands for �124.25, not too far from its �124.14 low Tuesday. The tech and industrial blue chips were mixed, but sentiment was helped by a surprise gain in Japanese core machinery orders, often tracked as an indicator of capital spending. Gainers included Sony Corp. (up 0.4%), Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (up 1.3%), and Apple Inc. suppliers Japan Display Inc. (up 2.1%) and Sharp Corp. (up 1.8%) a day after the U.S. tech major's developer conference. Stock in Mitsui Fudosan Co. rallied 3.6% as Crain's New York Business reported new tenants at the New York City Hudson Yards development partly owned by the Japanese property company's U.S. arm. Komatsu Ltd. traded 2% higher after Canada's Suncor Energy was reported earlier this week ordering 175 Komatsu driverless trucks. Top-weighted Nikkei Average component Fast Retailing Co. added 0.5% after a 2% drop in Tuesday trade when Soci�t� G�n�rale cut its rating on the shares all the way to sell from buy. The overnight rally in oil futures helped lift energy shares (Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. up 1.5%, Inpex Corp. up 3.1%) and trading houses (Mitsui & Co. up 1.1%, Itochu Corp. up 1.2%). Among decliners, Konica Minolta Inc. fell 1.2%, Casio Computer Co. lost 2.9%, and Nissan Motor Co. dropped 0.3% despite an upbeat forecast for China sales at its Infiniti unit.