Nikkei tops 18,000 as Honda, exporters climb

Tokyo, June 29: Japan's Nikkei average topped 18,000 for the first time in three days on Friday, rising 0.83 percent as Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and other exporters gained after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged in the key US market.

Shares of Doutor Coffee Co. Ltd., Japan's largest coffee chain, fell after its shareholders backed a merger with Nippon Restaurant System Inc., rebuffing opposition by a hedge fund.

''After the Fed ... there seems to be some relief in the market,'' said Toru Otsuka, deputy general manager of investor information at Mizuho Investors Securities.

The Federal Reserve left the benchmark U.S. interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent on Thursday. Higher interest rates crimp consumer spending and are a negative for Japanese companies that rely on demand from the world's largest economy.

The Nikkei rose 0.83 percent or 148.50 points to 18,080.77 as of 0115 GMT.

The TOPIX index was up 0.8 percent at 1,765.87.

Honda, which makes some 80 percent of its sales outside of Japan, gained 1.8 percent to 4,500 yen.

Kyocera Corp., a maker of electronic components, climbed 1.4 percent to 13,080 yen, becoming the biggest contributor to the Nikkei's rise.

Shares of Doutor fell 3.4 percent to 2,290 yen. The company's shareholders on Thursday approved a merger Nippon Restaurant System, a restaurant chain operator.

Hedge fund group Harbinger Capital Partners had argued the coffee chain would be better off on its own and should cut costs and speed up store openings. Harbinger had launched a proxy fight to stop the merger.

Shares of Nippon Restaurant are down 3.7 percent at 3,880 yen.

Reuters>