5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - Japan wages rise 0.6% in April and a gain in financial stocks lift market indexes.

Stocks in Japan rose led by financial stocks, especially brokerages and insurance companies, on speculation that the recent rally in equities will attract new retail investors. Commodity stocks gained on rising metal prices.

Market sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 rose 0.71% or 101.6 to 14,440.14, and the broader Topix Index gained 1.2% or 16.96 to 1,425.10.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 10 billion shares worth 1.2 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 305 million shares valued at 7.1 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 149 gained, 69 declined, and 7 were unchanged. Furukawa Electric led advancers in the index shares with a rise of 7.18% followed by GS Yuasa increasing 7.04%.

Wages rise 0.6% in April

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported in its monthly labor survey today that the average total cash earnings advanced 0.6% in April to 281,246 yen from a revised 1.5% in March.

Contractual cash earnings increased 0.5% to 273,561 yen, while scheduled cash earnings and non-scheduled cash earnings rose 0.5% to 252,899 yen and 0.7% at 20,662 yen respectively. Special cash earnings advanced 6.1% to 7,685 yen.

In addition, wages in the mining sector rose 3.6% to 289,949 yen and gained 0.8% in construction. Wages in the manufacturing industry edged up 0.5% to 310,171 yen.

The report also notes that the total hours worked remained unchanged at 154.5 hours and scheduled hours worked were similarly unchanged at 143.2 hours.

In April, regular employees rose 1.7% to 44.8 million and full-time employees gained 2% to 33.4 million. Also part-time employees increased by 0.8% to 11.4 million.

Gainers & Losers

Furukawa Electric led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 7.18% followed by increases in GS Yuasa Corp. of 7.04%, in Mizuho Financial Group of 6.68%, in Sompo Japan Insurance of 6.50%, and Shinko Securities of 6.33%.

Mizuho Financial and other financial stocks gained on the speculation that the additional losses from the credit market losses may not be material. Mizuho Trust & Banking rose 5.05% and Resona Holdings edged up 4.89%.

Insurance and securities companies also rose on higher yields on the government’s bonds. Daiwa Securities Group gained 5.78%, Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos grew 6.08% and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings spiked 5.54%.

Commodity stocks increased as well as crude oil for July delivery surged 0.6 to $127.35 a barrel on Friday last week after Mexico shut two export terminals.

Zinc rose 1% and copper leapt 0.6%. Japan Steel Work rose 5.02% and Sumitomo Metal Industries increased 1.79% on the gains in metal prices.

Shipping services companies rose after The Baltic Dry Index, which gauges shipping tariffs for commodities, rose 1.7% in the last two days. Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding edged up 5.74%.

Exporters gained after the yen weakened from 105.30 to 105.32 against the dollar. Canon Inc. advanced 1.76% and Toyota rose 1.86%.