April 12 (Bloomberg) --　Japanese stocks rose, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY)snapping its longest losing streak since 2009, as optimism about U.S. corporate earnings and a drop in Spanish bond yields boosted demand for riskier assets.

Automaker Mazda Motor Corp., which gets 27 percent of its revenue in North America, gained 1.5 percent after falling four consecutive days. Hitachi Construction Machinery Corp. paced gains among machinery makers after a newspaper reported the firm may have an 80 billion yen operating profit for the year ending in March. Inpex Corp. (1662), Japan’s No. 1 energy explorer, advanced 0.2 percent after oil rose.

 

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Pedestrians look at an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.2 percent to 9,475.27 as of 9:22 a.m. in Tokyo, advancing for the first time in eight days, the longest run of losses since July 2009. The broader Topix Index gained 0.1 percent to 806.75 with about two shares advancing for each that slid.

“Today we will see a little bit of rebound after five or so days of negative market activity, but there are significant headwinds on the horizon,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “Overall, clearly the U.S. economy is improving. The question is whether we are reading too much into a better-than- expected Alcoa result.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

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