Japan’s Nikkei ekes out gains despite looming tariff threats

TOKYO, – Japan’s Nikkei share average edged higher in choppy trade on Monday, boosted by financial shares as gross domestic production rose more than expected while automakers dragged following Friday’s headlines of possible U.S. tariffs aimed at imported cars.

The Nikkei was nearly flat by the midday break, up 0.04% at 39,164.87. The broader Topix rose 0.3% to sit at 2,766.47.

Japan’s economy expanded an annualised 2.8% in the October-December quarter, government data showed on Monday, backed by strong business spending and beating analyst forecasts.

Rate-sensitive banks gained 0.9% and shorter-term Japanese government bond yields marched higher after the data, which likely supports the Bank of Japan’s plan to keep hiking interest rates and normalises monetary policy.

Megabanks Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group added 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively.

Elsewhere in the financial shares, insurance firm Dai-ichi Life Holdings jumped 5.2%.

Toyota Motor, down 2%, was among major automakers to slide after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that tariffs on automobiles would be coming as soon as April 2 but gave no further details, keeping investors on edge.

“There are a lot of uncertainties, …leaving just a vague impression that tariffs will be increased,” said Kazuo Kamitani, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities.

The auto sector shed 1.8% to become the second worst performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sectors.

Wall Street offered Japanese shares little direction, with U.S. stocks ending mixed on Friday. AI darling Nvidia climbed to lift the Nasdaq while both the Dow and S&P 500 declined.

U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for Presidents’ Day.

Among Japan’s heavyweight shares, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest, which counts Nvidia among its customers, gained 2.6% to give the Nikkei the biggest lift.

Peer Tokyo Electron stumbled 1.1% along with Uniqlo parent firm Fast Retailing, down 0.2%, while Sony Group Corp was up 2.7%.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.