Nikkei gains on yen, GDP but lacks momentum

Japan's Nikkei average advanced 0.7% on Monday as a softer yen and strong-than-expected Japanese growth data for July-September encouraged investors to buy on dips.
The technical trend for the Nikkei remained bullish after climbing to a 4-½ month high last week, with sporadic buying emerging after it fell on Friday by more than 1 percent.
But the market lacked momentum to extend gains after a fall on Wall Street while shares in Hong Kong were largely flat and Shanghai was down about 1%.
"The Nikkei rose due to the yen's slight weakness. Ample liquidity is encouraging bargain-hunting," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"But we don't want to push the Nikkei too strongly from here as overseas markets are in a corrective selling phase. We need to closely watch how foreign markets behave."
The Nikkei closed the morning session up 69.30 points at 9,794.11, rising as high as 9,802.63 at one stage.
The broader Topix was up 0.3% at 849.60.
Some traders said the Nikkei received support after Japan's economy grew a bigger-than-expected 0.9% in July-September from the previous quarter.
But most participants said the GDP results were neutral to the market.
"The GDP results were positive, although they failed to spur strong buying as there are many uncertainties about the economic outlook," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
In Asian morning trade, the dollar was up 0.1% at 82.58 yen, encouraging gains for exporters like Sony.
Shares of Mizuho Financial Group rose in line with the market after it raised its full-year outlook, with bond trading gains and a sharp fall in bad-loan costs helped second-quarter profit to more than double.'
Traders said if the benchmark were to make a clear break above 9,800, then downward pressure could emerge as it has jumped about 8% since the start of the month.
Shares of resource-linked shares slipped after major commodities fell by the most in months on Friday on concern China will raise interest rates to slow growth, halting a rally that has seen raw goods prices surge to multiyear highs.
Sumitomo Metal Mining fell 1.2% to 1,353 yen and Dowa Holdings slid 2.1% to 511 yen.
The nonferrous metals subindex was down 0.4%, one of the biggest decliners among Japanese stocks.
Wall Street ended a five-week winning steak on Friday as the chance of rising interest rates in China prompted investors to book profits and reassess bullish positions in equities.