Tokyo stocks rise, dollar lower against yen

Friday, July 12th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TOKYO (AP) _ Tokyo stocks climbed Friday as investors were encouraged by an overnight rise in the tech-heavy index on Wall Street. The dollar was lower against the yen despite renewed warnings by a Japanese official against a rapid slide.

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 115.71 points, or 1.10 percent, to close at 10,601.45 Friday. On Thursday, the average lost 266.92 points or 2.48 percent. The dollar bought 116.72 yen at 5 p.m. (4 a.m. EDT) Friday, down 0.68 yen from late Thursday and below its late New York level of 116.81 overnight.

The greenback last traded below the 117 yen level in Tokyo last September. On the stock market, the Nikkei advanced with buying led by major technology issues, including Fujitsu, TDK and Sony. Other gainers included autos, such as Honda Motor, and telecommunications stocks like NTT Data. Investors were cheered as the Nasdaq composite index finished up 28.42, closing Thursday's session at 1,374.43 on Wall Street.

Also in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 11.97 to 8,801.53 Thursday. The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed on the first section climbed 2.34 points, or 0.23 percent, to close Friday at 1,019.51. The TOPIX shed 20.09 points, or 1.93 percent, the day before. Volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section was estimated at 700.31 million shares, up from 644.82 million shares Thursday.

Decliners outpaced advancers 707 to 575, while 204 issues ended unchanged. In currency dealings, the dollar slipped against the yen after yet another report of mismanaged U.S. corporate bookkeeping. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was investigating whether the drug company, Bristol-Myers, inflated revenues last year by $1 billion.

In Tokyo, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa told a regular news conference Friday that Japanese monetary authorities are ready to take action if they see currency movements as excessive. ``We are watching markets and will take action in the event of rapid movements or even if there are signs of rapid movements,'' Shiokawa said.

Since May, the Bank of Japan has made several dollar buying interventions in an attempt to halt the yen's surge, which will hurt Japan's economic recovery by making Japanese exports more expensive abroad.

The greenback ranged between 116.68 yen and 117.24 yen in Friday's trading. In other currencies, the euro was traded at 115.55 yen, down from 115.98 yen late Thursday in Tokyo. Against the dollar, the euro was quoted at 98.96 cents, down from its late New York level of 99.15 cents Thursday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond rose to 1.2900 percent from Thursday's finish of 1.2700 percent. Its price fell 0.17 point to 91.29.