Tokyo stocks up by break as banks, autos rally

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks rose on Friday morning as automakers and banks were boosted by a weaker yen, with stronger-than-expected US growth also providing confidence.

Investors tracked a rally on Wall Street after the US Commerce Department said the world's top economy expanded 0.2 points quicker than first thought in the final three months of last year, due in part to more robust personal consumption.

"The wealth impact from a global equity rally triggered by Trump may be starting to trickle down to consumers, with data showing the US in a solid recovery track," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

"The halt in the yen's ascent will be welcomed by investors, with Fed officials touting three to four rate hikes for this year," he told Bloomberg News.

The dollar was trading at ¥112.05, up from ¥111.86 in New York on Thursday afternoon and ¥111.16 in Tokyo earlier.

The greenback has been under pressure recently on fears about Donald Trump's economy-boosting agenda and after the Federal Reserve suggested the pace of interest rate hikes would be slower than expected.

A weak yen is a positive for Japanese exporters as it inflates repatriated profits and spurs demand for their shares.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 125.61 points, to sit at 19 188.83 by the lunch break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 10.68 points, at 1 538.27.

Shortly before the opening bell, a string of Japanese upbeat government data showed inflation and factory output rose in February while the unemployment rate dipped to a two-decade low.

Toshiba rallied 5.87% to ¥241.6 after the Nikkei business daily reported US private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and American chip maker Broadcom are believed to have offered roughly ¥2trn to buy the troubled Japanese giant's prized memory chip business.

The price is at the high end of estimates for a spin-off that would help Toshiba raise cash to offset massive losses at its US nuclear power unit Westinghouse.

Japan's top-selling Yomiuri newspaper reported that about ten firms, including Apple, are thought to be bidders.

Bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial climbed 0.93% to ¥713.4, with rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial tacking on 0.41% to ¥4 129.

Toyota rose 0.44% to ¥6 138 and Honda was up 0.67% at ¥3 418.