TOKYO, May 28 - Japanese stocks were trading near two-week highs by mid-afternoon on Wednesday, led by TDK Corp <6762.T> and other high-tech exporters after a gain in U.S. consumer confidence raised hopes for a recovery in global demand. As of 0515 GMT, the benchmark Nikkei average <.N225> was up 2.03 percent or 165.12 points at 8,285.36 after jumping in the morning to a two-week intraday high of 8,311.84 following a three percent surge in the U.S. Nasdaq index <.IXIC> the day before.
The TOPIX index <.TOPX> rose 1.42 percent to 826.42. Taking their cue from the Nasdaq, electronics parts maker TDK jumped 4.64 percent to 5,190 yen, while electronics conglomerate NEC Corp <6701.T> clambered 4.02 percent higher to 492 yen. But the Nikkei was meeting stiff resistance around 8,300 amid concerns over selling by private pension funds, which are keen to unload widely held issues before they begin returning part of their pension obligations to the state later this year. "Investors are buying on dips but are wary of pushing the market above 8,300 since it appears that corporate pension funds are waiting to sell above that level," said Koichi Kawata, deputy head of equities at SMBC Friend Securities. "And everyone's got their eye on Sony, which should be much stronger given the big rally in New York," Kawata added.
Sony Corp <6758.T> failed to join the upward run of its electronics peers, posting a modest gain of 0.33 percent to 3,010 yen after UBS Warburg said it had cut its rating on the world's top consumer electronics maker to "neutral" from "buy". The rating cut comes ahead of a Sony briefing on its management strategy at 0600 GMT and about one month after it stunned investors by posting its biggest quarterly net loss in more than eight years and warning that profit would fall to its lowest in nine years this business year.
Elsewhere, Hiroshima Bank Ltd <8379.T> came under pressure after the largest regional bank in western Japan said on Tuesday that six banks, including Mizuho Bank Ltd, would unload a total of 26.49 million of its shares in a secondary offering. The offering, which comes to about four percent of Hiroshima Bank's total outstanding stock, stoked oversupply concerns. Hiroshima was down 2.96 percent at 394 yen, having earlier slumped to an eight-month low of 381 yen.//