Roundup: Nikkei climbs 1.7 pct. to month high as Greece jitters ease

The Nikkei stock index climbed 1.72 percent to a one-month closing high Tuesday as investor jitters over Greek opposition party Syriza's victory in a weekend general election and the likelihood of new anti-austerity measures to be implemented by the party settled.

The Nikkei 225 added 299.78 points to end at 17,768.30, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 1.73 percent, or 24.30 points, to finish at 1,426.38.

Local traders here noted that despite shears in Athens falling on Monday after the election, other European bourses extended winning streaks, as concerns have eased about the likely anti- austerity policies the new Syriza party will introduce to Greece.

They said that previously there were concerns that the party was at odds with the European Union and International Monetary Fund and could possibly seek to exit the single currency union as part of a restructuring of its debt management.

But leading economists believe this is now unlikely as the majority of people in Greece wish to stay in the euro, and the region's finance chiefs agreed Monday to work with the new government to keep it as a member of the single currency bloc.

SMBC Friend Securities Co.'s Toshihiko Matsuno said that Greece's international lenders may look to offer some kind of compromise to Greece regarding its debt, such as extending the terms. "Greece must choose either austerity or leaving the euro, but its people don't want a euro exit. We may see a compromise on extending the duration of the debt,"Matsuno said.

Other analysts said that investors remained optimistic that issues would continue to rise in the run up to and throughout earnings season in Japan, set to swing into full gear here in the next couple of weeks, believing that companies' quarterly earnings would predominantly show strong results.

That said, some experts like Mizuho Securities Co.'s Yutaka Miura, warned that if the price for crude oil continues to fall, then buying sentiment would be dashed and investors would be back looking for safe havens, rather than chasing riskier assets like stocks. "If crude oil falls further, the U.S. stock market could turn bearish. It'll be difficult for Japanese shares to gain by themselves,"he said.

In currency markets, the U.S. dollar was changing hands at 118. 23 yen on Tuesday, less than the 118.49 yen logged in the U.S., but above the 117.90 yen line seen in Tokyo earlier on Monday.

Exporters largely gained on the favorable exchange rate and Panasonic jumped 3.3 percent to 1,372 yen, while Canon added 1.3 percent to close at 3,935 yen.

Olympus rose 2.8 percent to close at 4,190 yen and Ricoh gained 1.1 percent to end the day at 1,190 yen.

Among automakers, Honda Motor accelerated 2 percent to finish at 3,706 yen and top maker Toyota climbed 1.3 percent to 7,825 yen.

Toyota said it will change its pay structure from the seniority- based system for its workers in Japan, meaning that employees will be paid on a performance-based system and the gulf between senior and junior salaries will be reduced, the company's human resources chief Tatsuro Ueda said Tuesday.

But trading houses came under pressure, with Mitsui sliding 1 percent to 1,547 yen and Marubeni Corp. edging down 0.3 percent to 666 yen, after it lowered its profit forecast for this year by 50 percent on Monday.

Trading volume on Tuesday rose to 2.18 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, up from Monday's volume of 1.84 billion shares, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones by 1,506 to 267. Endi