In Japan on Monday, the Nikkei 225 closed up 0.1 percent to 11,778.98 even though it was down by 1 percent at the end of morning trading, and the Topix ended the day 0.2 percent higher at 1,191.90 after being down by 0.9 percent tat the end of the morning.

Shares were down in the morning on uncertainty about what might happen if the upper house of parliament rejected Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s post office privatization proposal.

However, as the losing outcome became clear and new elections were called, most analysts said they were convinced that not only would new elections not disturb Japan’s economy recovery, but that a change might actually be a positive thing for the economy.

It was especially thought that political parties trying to gain more political power might be reluctant to take fiscal tightening measures, something the present government has wished to impose.

Telemarketer Mishi Moshi Hotline, which was up by 4.2 percent on the day to ¥11,560, particularly stands to gain from a political campaign season as it provides public opinion poll services for the media. It also recently released it quarterly report, which showed an increase of 31 percent in net profits.

Consumer Credit company Credit Saison gained 5.9 percent to ¥3,950 on the news that it had a quarterly rise in net profits of 50 percent.

Mitsui Engineering Shipbuilding, however, was down by 4.5 percent to ¥212 after a report of quarterly losses four times higher than the same quarter in 2004 as well as a prediction of net losses in the six months ending in September due to high costs for materials.