Japan Stocks Climb, Shaking Off Trump's Cruise Missile Strike

(Bloomberg) -- Benchmark equity gauges in Japan rose, shaking off a decline following a U.S. missile strike on Syria.

The Topix reversed a 0.1 percent retreat triggered when the U.S. launched the cruise missile attack against Syria days after Bashar al-Assad's regime used poison gas to kill scores of civilians. President Donald Trump began his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday. Inpex Corp. and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. jumped more than 4 percent as the price of crude oil spiked.

“The attack on an airfield in Syria is really not surprising in the circumstances,” Principal Global Investors Chief Executive Officer Jim McCaughan said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The move to safe havens is more just in case anything goes wrong. If this turns out to be pretty surgical strike against the Syrian military, I think the market will get over it and recover again.”

Summary

• Topix +0.7% at 1,489.77 at the close in Tokyo
• Nikkei 225 +0.4% at 18,664.63
• Yen +0.3% to 110.45 per dollar
• Inpex +4%, Japan Petroleum +4.6%
• Defense-related stocks advance; Hosoya Pyro-Engineering +15% to highest since July 2006, Ishikawa Seisakusho +2.6%
• Seven & i Holdings +4.3%: retailer agrees to pay $3.3b for 1,108 stores from Texas-based Sunoco, forecasts second year of record profit
• IHI +4.9% after being rated new buy and top sector pick by Jefferies
• Screen Holdings -2.3% after Macquarie downgrades rating to neutral from outperform 
• Nippon Gas +7.1% after rated new overweight by JP Morgan
• “In addition to the situation in Syria, pressure surrounding North Korea is rising, encouraging speculation around this theme,” said Tomoichiro Kubota, an analyst at Matsui Securities Co. in Tokyo.“Individual investors appear to be enthusiastically trading. With geopolitical tension rising, we've been seeing increased speculation from the start of the month.”
  
  

For more on Japan markets:
Yen Rallies With Treasuries After U.S. Missile Strike on Syria
Japan's Nikkei 225 Loses Support After Breaking Range: Chart
Asian Countries in Crosshairs as Trump Hunts for 'Trade Abuse'
USD/JPY Shorts Turning Stale as Stops Build Above 110.80: Trader
Yen Weakness Needed to Revive Japan Stock Demand, McCaughan Says

To contact the reporter on this story: Yuko Takeo in Tokyo at ytakeo2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Annells, Naoto Hosoda