Japanese Stocks Rise on Optimism Fed Will Act to Spur Growth

Japanese stocks rose for a second day after weaker-than-estimated U.S. economic data reinforced optimism Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will act to support growth.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Japan’s largest carmaker, rose 0.3 percent. Inpex Corp. (1605), Japan’s No. 1 energy explorer, advanced 2.2 percent after oil prices rose. A measure of banks in the Topix index was little changed after Moody’s Investors Service cut Japan’s sovereign-credit rating, citing “weak” prospects for cutting the country’s debt burden.

The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 0.7 percent to 8,792.03 as of 9:21 a.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix index climbed 0.7 percent to 755.88.

“The market has priced in a slowdown in the U.S. economy to a good degree, and that’s why a series of weak U.S. economic reports tend to raise expectations that Bernanke will do something, rather than damping the market,” said Kenichi Hirano, general manager and strategist at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.