By Junko Fujita
TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - Japanese shares closed higher on
Wednesday after posting their biggest drop in nearly two weeks
in the previous session, while stocks of electronics makers
gained after Toshiba Corp received a proposal to go private in a
$20 billion deal.
The benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 ended up 0.12% at
29,730.79, while the broader Topix .TOPX climbed 0.67% to
1,967.43. On Tuesday, the Nikkei and Topix had closed 1.3% and
1.5% lower, respectively.
"Investors are buying stocks after yesterday's (Tuesday)
sharp decline. This is a natural move," said Hideyuki Suzuki,
general manager at investment research for SBI Securities.
"The news on Toshiba has sent electronics makers higher.
Investors could be thinking that if the Toshiba gets delisted,
they would have to shift the money to its peers."
Toshiba 6502.T is considering a $20 billion offer from
private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to take it private, a
person familiar with the matter said, as the Japanese industrial
conglomerate faces pressure from activist shareholders to
improve governance. Toshiba shares surged 18.28% to their daily limit after
being untraded on a glut of buy orders.
Fujitsu 6702.T advanced 2.03%, Hitachi 6501.T gained
2.17% and Sharp 6753.T rose 1.65%.
Shipping firm Nippon Yusen 9101.T jumped 3.26% after
raising its profit forecast for the year ended March to 200
billion yen ($1.82 billion) from 160 billion yen.
Its peers Kawasaki Kisen 9107.T advanced 4.04% and Mitsui
OSK Lines 9104.T climbed 2.62%.
Other cyclical shares also gained after the International
Monetary Fund raised its global growth forecast to 6% this year,
a rate not seen since the 1970s, from 5.5% earlier. The Topix sub-index for steel makers .ISTEL.T gained the
most among the 33 sub-indexes, followed by the shipping sector
.ISHIP.T .
($1 = 109.6200 yen)
Nikkei share average .N225
The broader Topix .TOPX
(Editing by Uttaresh.V)