Tokyo share prices closed higher boosted by short-covering, which erased opening losses in the wake of the downturn on Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 21.92 points or 0.2pc at 9,642.61 A stable performance of the Nasdaq 100 futures also supported the modest rebound later in the morning session. However, lingering caution over a possible increase in the unwinding of cross shareholdings ahead of the first-half book closing in September continued to pressure the market's upside.
Adding to the downside, new figures show business activity in Japan slipped in June from the previous month, casting further doubt on the hesitant economic recovery Microchip stocks were higher, supported by bargain-hunting mainly from domestic retail and institutional investors, which more than offset the impact of a weak semiconductor book-to-bill data in the US. Fujitsu was up, as were NEC and Hitachi. High-techs also rose, with Advantest, Tokyo Electron and Rohm up //www.fxcentre.com