Japan Stocks Rally With World On Greek Bailout Hopes, But Toshiba, Sharp Sink

Japanese stocks extended their upward campaign early Tuesday after rising hopes for a Greek bailout deal triggered a European relief rally and solid gains in the U.S. The Nikkei Stock Average improved by 1%, adding to a 1.3% gain the previous day, while the Topix rose 1.1%. A slightly weaker yen also supported the advance, with the dollar changing hands for �123.41, bouncing back from its �122.90 level at the previous Tokyo stock close. Among blue chips on the rise were Casio Computer Co. (up 2.4%), Nintendo Co. (up 3.1%), Honda Motor Co. (up 1.7%), Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (3.8%) ansd Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. (up 4%). Shares of Sony Corp. rose 1.3% as the company said it would begin selling a new PlayStation 4 game console with a massive 1 terabyte of storage. Stock in Softbank Corp. added 2.1% amid news of its plans to launch a solar-power joint venture in India with about $20 billion. Among the retailers, FamilyMart Co. lagged the market with a 0.4% gain despite a Nikkei report saying the convenience-store operator would post a roughly 20% gain in March-May operating profit. On the downside, Toshiba Corp. dropped 0.4% as a separate Nikkei report said the company's accounting problems were found to extend to units beyond its infrastructure group and is expected to take a $444 million bite out of its profit. Sharp Corp. rushed 3% lower for reasons that weren't immediately clear, while Takata Corp. surrendered 1.2% after a U.S. congressional report said the company had overlooked the problems with its airbags.