Shares in Japan's biggest banks have risen after they forecast profits for this financial year that exceeded analyst expectations.
Shares of Mizuho Financial Group were up 0.9%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 1% and Mitsubishi UFJ increased 0.6%.
The banks have benefited from a recent rise in borrowing in Japan.
At the same time they have pushed to gain market share abroad from European competitors.
Japanese banks have been looking to higher-growth markets to make up from lower profitability at home, as interest rates remain low.
As European banks retreat from Asia and other markets, Japanese lenders have seen sharp growth in their overseas lending and have been racking up acquisitions.
On Tuesday, Mizuho said net profit will rise 3.2% to 500bn yen ($6.2bn; £3.9bn) in the year to March 2013. That is well above analyst expectations of 374.2bn yen.
Sumitomo Financial said it expected net profit of 480bn yen, down 7.4% on the year ending March 2012 but ahead of expectations of 441.2bn yen.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest lender, forecast net profits of 670bn yen, roughly in line with predictions.
However some analysts remained cautious of the outlook.
"We want to see whether they can generate solid profits from loans under the current condition of low interest rates," said Chikako Horiuchi from Fitch Ratings.
"I feel the driver will be overseas loans, so we need to see how banks can increase volume in overseas loans. That will be the key to determine the profit outlook for banks," Ms Horiuchi said.
With limited exposure to Europe's sovereign debt issues, Japanese banks were able to post solid earnings for the financial year ending in March 2012.
Mizuho said net profit was 484.5bn yen up 17.2% from a year earlier. Mitsubishi UFJ reported a 68% jump in profits to 981.3bn yen.
Sumitomo Financial said profits were up 9% to 518.5bn yen.
The banks were further boosted by trading gains on government bonds as well as a boost in equity markets in the fourth quarter.
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