Share prices in Tokyo closed higher this morning, led by technology stocks after an overnight rebound on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 101.21 points, or 1.15pc, to 8,890.30, having briefly pushed above the psychologically important 9,000 point level. The Nikkei held onto its gains despite a warning overnight from Texas, the world's largest maker of chips for mobile phones. It cut its second quarter sales forecasts, citing weaker demand in Asia.
On the market, auto stocks Honda, Toyota and Nissan gained, as did banks Mizuho, UFJ and SMFG. Technology stocks Advantest, TDK and Canon added to the upside. In economic news, Japanese first quarter growth was revised marginally higher today, although the growth still slowed sharply from the last three months of 2002. Gross domestic product rose 0.1pc in the first quarter 2003 from the fourth quarter 2002, better than the previous estimate of zero growth, the Cabinet Office said. However, this marks a sharp slowdown from the 0.4pc in the previous quarter//www.fxcentre.com