Nikkei rises for third day, helped by public pension buying hopes

Tokyo: Tokyo stocks gained for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, as hopes of more buying by the country`s giant public pension fund countered headwinds from the conflict in Ukraine and soft Chinese loans data.

Japan`s economy shrank an annualised 6.8 percent in the second quarter, the biggest contraction since the devastating March 2011 earthquake but the slump was in line with forecast and had little impact on the market.

The Nikkei rose 0.4 percent to 15,213.63 while the broader Topix gained 0.4 percent to 1,262.13, a one-week closing high. But trade volume was low, due to the "obon" summer holidays. 

The new JPX-Nikkei Index 400 rose 0.3 percent to 11,488.14.