Japan's bank shares gain on BOJ bets, chip stocks track US peers lower
shares rallied on Tuesday amid speculation that the central bank will loosen yield curve controls later in the day, offsetting a big drop in tech stocks following declines for U.S. peers and disappointing earnings from Panasonic.
The Topix banking index climbed 2.25% as of 10:28 local time (0128 GMT) to lead gains among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's (TSE) 33 industry groups.
The Nikkei newspaper reported overnight that the Bank of Japan will consider raising the ceiling for long-term yields from the current 1% at its policy meeting likely ending sometime around the TSE's midday trading recess.
The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield jumped to a fresh decade high at 0.955% shortly after the market open, while the yen traded around 149.42 per dollar after reaching a nearly two-week high of 148.81 overnight.
«It feels to me personally like there's going to be a policy tweak today» by the BOJ, said Kazuo Kamitani, an equity market strategist at Nomura Securities.
However, in the event of a hawkish shift, «I don't expect a big swing in the long-term yield from here, as it's already come a good way, but investors will want to confirm that,» he said.
Japan's Topix index gained 0.43%, with an index of value shares such as banks rallying 0.65%, outpacing a 0.21% rise for growth shares, which are predominantly tech names .
The Nikkei 225 share average, with its heavy weighting for tech shares, slipped 0.18% to 30,640.89.
Chip-testing equipment manufacturer Advantest was the Nikkei's biggest drag, shaving off 44 points with a 4.3% slide.
Chip-making equipment giant Tokyo Electron was next, removing 38 points with a 1.94% drop.
The U.S. Philadelphia SE semiconductor index lost 1.3% on Monday, even as all three of
