Tokyo stocks rose Monday as investors flocked to a wide range of issues to secure rights for a year-end dividend payout on the deadline, but the advance was capped with Nomura Holdings Inc. warning of a possible huge loss in transactions with a U.S. client.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 207.82 points, or 0.71 percent, from Friday at 29,384.52. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 9.18 points, or 0.46 percent, higher at 1,993.34.

Gainers were led by retail, rubber product and machinery issues.

Stocks managed to end higher on the final day for investors to secure rights for dividend payouts for fiscal 2020 ending Wednesday.

But investors remained cautious throughout the day after Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest brokerage and investment bank, said before the market opened that it could post a "significant" loss as a result of its American subsidiary's transactions with a client in the United States.

"An event" occurred Friday and the estimated amount of the claim against the client is "approximately $2 billion," Nomura Holdings, the parent of Nomura Securities Co., said. It ended the day 117.70 yen, or 16.3 percent, lower at 603.00 yen.

Investor sentiment significantly deteriorated, brokers said, after Swiss bank Credit Suisse made a similar warning in the afternoon, saying it has begun exiting positions related to a U.S.-based hedge fund that defaulted last week.

"Selling expanded at one point amid worry about how much the impact (of the default) would spread," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, equity strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co.

As the market closed higher, he said investors seem more confident of the current financial system, which has been strengthened since going through past crises such as the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

On the First Section, advancing issues outnumbered decliners 1,225 to 900, while 68 ended unchanged.

Semiconductor issues helped lift the Nikkei as the industry advanced on strength before the weekend of U.S. peers.

Tokyo Electron climbed 1,470 yen, or 3.3 percent, to 45,740 yen, Advantest rose 240 yen, or 2.6 percent, to 9,470 yen and Screen Holdings added 190 yen, or 2.0 percent, to 9,500 yen.

Financials were broadly sold as the sharp fall in Nomura Holdings hurt investor sentiment toward the industry as a whole.

Daiwa Securities Group lost 10.70 yen, or 1.8 percent, to 580.90 yen. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined 11.60 yen, or 1.8 percent, to 618.50 yen while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group sagged 45 yen, or 1.1 percent, to 4,170 yen.

Trading volume on the main section rose to 1,826.32 million shares from Friday's 1,282.70 million shares.

The U.S. dollar edged down to the mid-109 yen level as Japanese importers sold for settlement purposes ahead of the end of the fiscal year, dealers said.

At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 109.65-66 yen compared with 109.63-73 yen in New York and 109.32-33 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday.

The euro was quoted at $1.1786-1787 and 129.24-28 yen against $1.1789-1799 and 129.30-40 yen in New York and $1.1786-1787 and 128.85-89 yen in Tokyo late Friday afternoon.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond fell 0.010 percentage point from Friday's close to 0.065 percent as investors fled to the safe-haven debt amid tensions over Nomura Holdings' announcement, dealers said.

==Kyodo

© Kyodo News International, Inc., source Newswire