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Stocks gain moderately as investors focus on high-dividend sectors

The Topix index declined 0.2 percent at the close in Tokyo on Friday, trimming an earlier drop of as much as 0.8 percent.

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The Dow Jones industrial average rose 98.76 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 18,392.46, the S&P 500 gained 14.06 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 2,177.18 and the Nasdaq Composite added 44.34 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 5,339.52. The Bank of Japan’s quarterly tankan business sentiment survey will likely show the headline index for big manufacturers’ sentiment improving by 1 point to plus 7 points in September from plus 6 points three months ago, the poll of 16 economists showed.It would be the first time the index improves since the June survey in 2015.The poll found the sentiment index for big non-manufacturers worsened slightly to plus 18 from plus 19 three months ago.

“The immediate reaction across markets to the Fed’s decision to keep rates on hold again has been that of lower treasury yields, higher stock prices and a weaker dollar”.

It also said that near-term risks to the United States economic outlook “appear roughly balanced”, a sign that the central bank could raise rates by the end of this year.

The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday chose to keep interest rates unchanged at between 0.25% and 0.50% and cut the number of rate increases they expect this year from one to two. The Warehouse Group rose 1.4 percent after unveiling its full-year results.

Oil prices rose about 1.6 percent as the dollar fell and USA crude inventories recorded a surprise drop.

Shares of Apple rose 0.9 percent to $114.56 and was the top influence on the S&P and the Nasdaq after Nomura and RBC raised their price targets.

With their high dividends, real estate stocks did well as investors seeking income looked beyond bonds, whose yields have been falling.

The dollar edged up to 100.89 yen from 100.51 yen.

The index last stood at 95.350, off Thursday’s low of 95.048 but down 0.7 percent on the week.

The dollar bought 100.90 Japanese yen, higher than 100.59 yen in the previous session.

Sentiment was also dented by lackluster economic data out of Europe, a sharp drop in oil prices and weakness in some of the biggest U.S. technology companies, including Apple and Facebook.

But they gave back some gains after Reuters reported that a two-day expert-level meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on production cooperation had yielded no major breakthrough.

Energy companies followed oil prices higher.

Brent crude futures traded at $47.38 per barrel, after having climbed to $47.83 on Thursday.

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“Given that we didn’t see yen weakness take hold after the BOJ’s monetary policy review, it’s not that surprising we’re getting some short-term selling”, said Satoshi Yuuzaki, an analyst at Takagi Securities Co.

Dollar sags after Fed stands pat, signals less aggressive rate rises