Nikkei advances as shipping firms rebound

By Staff
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TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) The Nikkei average edged up 0.5 per cent on Friday as Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and other shipping firms recouped losses from the previous session, helped by investors' continuing appetite for stocks with attractive dividend yields.

Investors continued to buy stocks such as shippers, power companies, and steel firms, largely for the right to receive the dividend payout this year.

''Shippers, steel firms and power companies, I call them 'the dividend yield three'... As we approach March, we see this kind of move toward stocks with high dividend yields every year,'' said Soichiro Monji, chief strategist of equity management at Daiwa SB Investments.

''A lot of stocks pay out dividends to those who are shareholders as of March ... In turn, many of these stocks then get sold in April.'' The Nikkei was up 86.50 points at 17,378.98 as of 0016 GMT.

The broad TOPIX index was up 0.71 percent at 1,732.39.

Kawasaki Kisen, Japan's third-largest shipper, gained 8 per cent to 1,127 yen, recovering from a decline of 4.2 per cent in the previous session when its earnings disappointed.

The company has a dividend yield of 1.6, according to Reuters data.

But shares of Mazda Motor Corp. dropped 4.3 per cent to 739 yen after the auto maker on Thursday lowered its net profit forecast for the year to March to account for lower-than-expected vehicle shipments and higher costs of launching new models.

Data released before the start of trade showed machinery orders fell 0.7 per cent in December from the previous month, in line with expectations.

REUTERS DKS BST0718

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