Rakuten shares climb 2% on bank unit listing progress

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Rakuten is pictured at the headquarters of Rakuten in Tokyo, Japan, May 15, 2019. REUTERS/Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) -Shares in Japan's Rakuten Group Inc climbed 2% on Tuesday, a day after the e-commerce firm said it had applied to list its online banking unit on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Rakuten announced plans for an initial public listing last September as it grappled with the cost of building a mobile network and competed with Amazon.com Inc. Its shares last month hit their lowest level in more than a decade.