Nikkei rises as Japan's ruling party picks new chief

Japan's Nikkei index rose Monday but erased some of the early gains, as Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who has called for a tax hike, won the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's leadership election and is set to become the new Japanese prime minister. The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed up 53.57 points or 0.61 percent at 8,851.35. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished up 2.76 points or 0.37 percent at 758.83. Gainers were led by the air transport sector, followed by the paper and pulp, and real estate sectors. Among the decliners were the oil and coal products, rubber products and transport equipment sectors. On the First Section, advancing stocks outnumbered decliners 1,156 to 355 with 149 others unchanged. Trading volume on the main section rose to 1,954.69 million shares from Friday's 1,893.33 million. Turnover was 1,189.1 billion yen (15.44 billion U.S. dollars).