Tokyo shares rebounded after a weak start as the yen weakened against the U.S. dollar.
On Wednesday, the company projected a 35 percent plunge in profit for the fiscal year through March 2017, as the perks of a favorable exchange rate fade, and it reported a 4 percent drop in profit for January-March on-year at 426.6 billion yen ($3.9 billion).
ANALYST VIEWPOINT: Regional indications point to a calm day, with modest gains in Hong Kong offset by minor losses in Tokyo.
[...] trading at its highest price in six months, benchmark U.S. crude rose overnight after the government reported a surprise decline of 3.4 million barrels in supplies for last week and a 6 percent reduction in U.S. oil output.
The yen-dollar rate has "slipped back down to 108 levels, as a short-squeeze in the early week abated with no more official talk of intervention yesterday, while markets are also doubting if Japan would intervene in advance of the G7 summit," Mizuho Bank Ltd. (Singapore branch) said in a commentary.
