Shionogi & Co. gained 2.9 percent after Mizuho Financial Group Inc. raised its share-price target on the drugmaker. Digital Garage Inc. jumped 3 percent after the web service provider’s operating profit beat analyst estimates. Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings Inc. added 2.4 percent after a report the insurer will raise premiums for the first time in eight years. Oil explorer Inpex Corp. slid 0.7 percent following a decline in crude prices.
The Topix index added 0.4 percent to 1,670.73 at the trading break in Tokyo, with all but seven of it 33 industry groups rising. Volume was 33 percent below the 30-day intraday average. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.4 percent to 20,590.26.
A government report Monday showed Japan’s economy shrank an annualized 1.6 percent in the three months through June, snapping two quarters of expansion. Analysts forecast a 1.8 percent contraction after the economy grew a revised 4.5 percent in the first quarter.
The contraction came as consumers and businesses cut spending, putting pressure on the prime minister to return his focus to Abenomics. Since coming to power in December 2012, Shinzo Abe has delivered unprecedented monetary easing and fiscal stimulus that helped push the Topix stock index to an eight-year high this month, but failed to translate into a broader economic recovery.
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