ai uchida joins us from the business desk. a bit of confidence in corporate japan. what is behind the gains? >> the stocks are looking attractive for a number of reasons. a lot of listed companies are posting record high earnings and they are giving more back to the shareholders. we are seeing more companies paying out bigger dividends. as katherine mentioned, it also closed at over 20,400 for the first time since april 2,000. mayu yoshida joins us from the japan stock exchange. what is the mood like today? >> not bad. optimism that more japanese companies will announce higher shareholder returns seems to be attracting investors to tokyo markets and this morning stocks are extending gains. shares are rising eight days in a row. the nikkei is barely in the positive at 20,426 and the topix at 1,659 but with the shares at this level the nikkei may close at the highest level since april 2000 again. what also moved investors is speculation about the timing of rate hikes in the u.s. and last week fed chair janet yellen implied that the rate hike would be appropriate this

let's go to ai uchida from the business desk. let's get the numbers from you. what do the results look like so far? >> we are seeing a bit of a mixed picture. we are seeing the weaker yen boost the bottom lines at a lot of firms. but on the other hand falling crude oil prices pushed down profits for some oil companies. let's take a look at nintendo. it is back in the black for the first time in four years. nintendo officials say the firm posted an operating profit of $206 million the weaker yen boosted sales on the wii u video game console in the u.s. and europe. but sales fell 3.8% in yen terms to $4.6 billion. that's because sales of the 3ds game console were lower than expected. >>> lower crude prices have caused edemitsu kosan to post its first net loss in ten years. the net loss was close to $1.2 pull. officials say plunging crude prices pushed down the value of the oil reserves by more than $1 billion. problems with overseas oil development problems caused the firm to post an extraordinary loss. now that oil prices have stabilized they expect a net profit

ai uchida joins us with more. >> up to know. people thought that the earlier the rate hike could come would be june. but policymakers just released the minutes of their april meeting and shows many are cautious about raising rates so soon. many policymakers think it is unlikely that economic data available by next month would provide sufficient condition first a rate hike but they didn't rule it out completely. as son anticipated the economy will improve by then. many think that the economy slowed in the winter due to trans transitory factors. but they are worried about the effects of a stronger dollar. members are concerned that lower energy prices are not boosting consumer spending as much as they thought they would. the policymakers will consider the proper time for the rate hike by examining the gross domestic product and employment figures. the next clue will be fed chair janet yellen's speech on friday. >>> so the fed doesn't appear too eager to raise the key rates soon. let's see how markets are taking in the news. ramin

ai uchida has more background on this. >> we have seen the dollar have momentum behind it. we saw it last week go from 119 to 121 yen. but on friday that's when we saw the buying kick in. the dollar shot up overnight to 124 yen. that's a level we haven't seen since 2007. right now, the dollar has backed off a bit. trading at 123.70-75. what did yellen have to say? hiking the central bank's key interest rate by the end of the year might be the right thing to do. higher interest rates make a currency more attractive because investors get more bang for their buck. but yellen said that policymakers will make their move should the u.s. economy continue to improve. but if the economy does indeed get stronger that is another reason for investors to park their money there. to see how the weak yen is affecting the japanese stock markets, mayu yoshida joins us from the tokyo took exchange. >> now we're seeing less correlation between the weak yen and share prices. but the weak yen will definitely boost export-related shares. and we're seeing a very strong start in tokyo right now. sh

ai uchida joins us from the business desk with all the details. good morning. >> good morning, catherine. >> these bullet trains, the shinkansen shinkansen, i guess you could say they're the epitome of japanese technology. and railway operators here along with government officials have worked hard to gain contracts around the world. now japanese and thai governments are expected to exchange memorandums on a high-speed railway for thailand. japan has offered the thai government its technological and financial assistance. the project is a high-speed 700 kilometer link between the capital bangkok and a tourist destination in the north. japanese transport minister is scheduled to meet his thai counterpart in tokyo on wednesday to exchange a memorandum of cooperation. it's expected the two countries will agree that the project will incorporate japanese technology and experience in the field of high-speed rail. most trains in thailand run on single tracks and not electrified. but with economic growth in mind the country needs fast trains to move large n

ai uchida joins us from the business desk. >> toyota motor has been providing hybrid cars to mazda or technology to mazda. and now executives on both sides say that that relationship is going to deepen. they say they have agreed to cooperate in the medium to long term in a wide range of fields that includes environmental and safety technologies of automobiles. the toyota and mazda presidents made the announcement on wednesday. >> translator: toyota and mazda will compliment each other on products and technologies but leveraging our respective advantages. >> translator: we want to move forward together as we make better cars. >> the automakers will establish a joint committee and discuss what products and technologies they will be working on together. toyota has the technology to build hydrogen powered cars while mazda has fuel efficient engine technologies. the plan is to share the technologies. >>> toshiba officials say an accounting irregularity is forcing them to revise downward their outlook for a three-year period and an in-house committee is looking into the matter. the operatin

ai uchida joins us from the business desk. how did the talks go? >> as we have reported the ministers approved a four-month extension of the bailout package for greece in exchange for structural reform. they say they have made some progress in the talks but failed to reach a deal on the content of the reform. after the meeting eurozone chairman jeroen dijsselbloem spoke to reporters. >> more time is needed to bridge the remaining gaps and reach a comprehensive agreement. >> the ministers say they saw progress on the issues such as an increase in the value-added tax and improvement of the taxation system but they were unable to agree on a reduction in pension payments or labor market deregulation. the country's financial situation is very severe. he said the structural reform plan should not put too much pressure on the lives of poor people. the next meeting has not been scheduled but the ministers aim to reach a deal within the coming weeks. >>> let's see how investors are reacting to develops. your european markets reversed their trends. u.s. shar

ai uchida joins us from the business desk now. what are you seeing? >> at the end of the month we look at consumer price index, household spending they add up to give us more insight to the situation with japan consumers. let's start with the price trends. the cpi measures the price of everything from a bar of soap to a house. the price of daily goods and services rose. officials said the index for april came to 103.3. the base year is 2010 when it was 100. the number is up 0.3% from the same month last year. the index doesn't factor in fresh food because their prices tend to be volatile. while prices edged higher, consumers continued to tighten their pursestrings. household spending in april was down 1.3% in yen terms from a year ago. the figure marks the 13th straight month of decline. households with two or more members spend an average of 2,427 dollars. they spend less on housekeeping holiday activities and tuition fees compared to april 2014. and other key data were released this morning. the industrial output was up 1% from the previous month. t

ai uchida joins us now with the details. what is happening? >> as you know this bill would give president barack obama greater authority in negotiations over the free-trade deal. he wants to be able to accelerate approval of the tpp agreement by congress. the u.s. senate is set to vote on the fast-track bill this week after clearing the last procedural vote. senators have adopted a motion to put the trade authority bill to a full vote. some democrats are cautious about the tpp bill. they tried to delay the bill but the senate passed the motion. the senate is expected to pass the fast-track legislation. attention is now focused on how the house of representatives will deal with the bill. its passage is expected to give fresh momentum to the tpp talks. it would allow the congress to accept or reject the treaty without amendments. but the house has not set a schedule for discussing the bill. >>> a third party panel set up by toshiba has decided to widen the probe into the accounting irregularities. the investigation is looking into cases where th

ai uchida joins us. >> officials have for sometime now reported positive numbers and this morning people at the finance ministry said the numbers for march stayed in the black for the ninth straight month. they credited income gains and an improved trade balance. the surplus for march came in at nearly 2.8 trillion yen, that's more than $23 billion. japan's trade surplus stood at $5.6 billion, officials say a slide in crude oil prices from a year earlier helped the trade balance returning to the black. exports rose 10% in yen terms from a year ago. imports fell 16%. and returns on overseas investment grew. the primary income account shows how much japan earns from its foreign investments. this account showed a surplus of $19.4 billion. >>> so let's see how markets are reacting to those trade figures this morning and after the losses on the european and u.s. markets. on wall street the dow jones industrial average ended just above 18,000 that is down .2%, the tech heavy nasdaq closing in at just above 4900. that was a loss of about a third>>> for more, we are joined by ramin mellegard at

ai uchida joins us with all the details. >> officials have released the preliminary figures for gross domestic product, gdp, it is for the january to march period. they say gdp rose for a second straight quarter. first quarter gdp grew in real terms by 0.6% from the previous quarter. that works out to annualized growth of 2.4%. the figures are higher than what many analysts and investors had expected. the data shows that consumer spending continues to grow rising by 0.4%. capital spending by businesses rose by 0.4% too. that was the first increase in four quarters. and housing investment climbed by 1.8%. >>> shoppers in japan have tightened their wallets since last year's consumption tax rise, but as the impact of the hike weakens, consumers may finally be returning to the stores. nhk world reports. >> in this housing exhibition in tokyo, major housing companies are showing off their latest models. housing sales in japan have been in a real slump since the tax hike, but the managers of housing companies say things are starting to turn around. company managers say more visitors are com

ai uchida joins us now from the business desk. good morning. so tell us more about what janet yellen has to say. >> she did say the risk to panel stability at this point is moderate. specifically, she explained that the fed's not seeing rapid credit growth or broad-based pickup in leverage but share prices are renewing their highs and the fed's going to be keeping a close eye on the situation. >> i guess i would highlight the equity market valuations at this point generally are quite high. now they're not so high when your compare the returns on equities to the returns on safe assets like bonds, which are also very low, but there are potential dangers there. >> investors have been listening closely to yellen these days look for any hint in a hike in the key interest rate. the chair told the audience the fed needs to be mindful in the timing of a rate increase but it's she did say the fed will not take the market by surprise when the near zero rate policy comes to an end. >>> the warning did lead to a selloff on wall street and the dow jones ind

ai uchida has more. what are you hearing? >> we have been seeing mostly upbeat earnings reports over the last few weeks. that is certainly the case with the electronics giant hitachi. the company booked a record profit for the business year ending in march. the hitachi officials say operating profit set a record for the second straight year coming in at around $5 billion. that's up 11.6% in yen terms from the previous year. group sales stood at $82 billion. that's about 2% higher. officials cited the overseas infrastructure businesses such as providing elevators in china. they also say the weaker yen inflated their business results. as for the current business year that ends next march they predict more record profits. they expect their overseas businesses to remain strong and that includes new train cars to britain's high-speed rail network but they point to a risk of slow down in petroleum producing countries. >>> officials at japanese automakers will drastically expand a global recall involving potentially faulty takata ai

ai uchida joins us from the business desk. good morning. what are investors reacting to here? >> yeah data has been lackluster. retail sales is failing to impress investors. but it led investors to believe that the federal reserve will wait longer to raise interest rates. that is usually good news for equities so the investors bought stocks. the dow jones renewed its previous record from early march. it's the fifth time this year that the index has broken records. and the nasdaq was up 0.6%. the s&p 500 rose by .3%. some corporate merger news also boosted the sentiment. there to see how wall street performance is affecting markets here in tokyo, ramin mellegard joins us from the tokyo stock exchange. how are things looking? >> positive here. record highs set in the u.s. and higher bond yields and the dollar rose as well. that should be a boost for exporters here. let's have a look at the nikkei. we are reaching levels we haven't seen since april 28th and i'm talking about just about touching the 20,000 level. we were one point shy of that. we'll see how that develops in the mo