Japan stock market week to Feb 9, 2009

Tokyo extended its gain for a second week, following mixed moves in the review week to February 9. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.2%, although it still  finished below the psychologically-important 8,000 mark, while the Topix  index inched up 0.1%. The market was strong mid-week, reflecting  Japanese investors' purchasing of machinery, shipbuilding and steel  stocks in anticipation of a recovery in the Chinese economy. The last  two sessions saw a downturn due to profit-taking of the China-related  issues and players resumed focusing on Japanese companies' dismal  third-quarter earnings and increasingly uncertain outlook for the full  year to March 2009. The pharmaceutical index lost 3.0%, underperforming  the market.