By Ayai Tomisawa
TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average roseon Tuesday as banking stocks rallied while Takeda Pharmaceuticalclimbed ahead of news the drugmaker had agreed to buyLondon-listed Shire for $62.42 billion.
The Nikkei ended 0.2 percent higher to 22,508.69.
Takeda Pharmaceutical and Shire announcedafter the Tokyo market close the acquisition, which includes acombination of cash and shares.
During Tokyo trade, Takeda surged 4 percent and was thethird most traded stock by turnover, as investors hadanticipated an official announcement of the deal.
With more companies reporting full-year earnings, individualstocks will likely provide more direction this week and next,traders said.
About 40 percent of the Topix companies that have reportedso far have topped profit estimates, according to MizuhoSecurities. The companies reported a 21.4 percent rise inpre-tax profits for the last fiscal year ended March 2018,compared with companies' earlier estimates of 16.5 percent.
For the outlook for this fiscal year, they have reported a2.2 percent rise in pretax profits, as most companies haveweaker dollar-yen assumptions than last year.
"As companies are forecasting conservative profits thisyear, the stock market has a hard time digesting the forecasts,"said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, a strategist at Mizuho Securities. "Weneed to wait until the April-June quarter to get a more concretepicture on how companies will be performing throughout theyear."
Banks were bought, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Groupadvancing 0.9 percent and Mizuho Financial Groupadding 0.6 percent.
The broader Topix gained 0.4 percent to 1,779.82.
(Editing by Sam Holmes)
