Tokyo stocks close higher following Wall Street gains

TOKYO: Tokyo shares closed higher on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street with investors also cheering the dollar's rise.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.10 percent, or 600.40 points to end at 29,149.41, rising 2.94 percent from a week before.

The broader Topix index added 1.91 percent, or 36.42 points, to 1,947.44. It was up 2.24 percent over the week.

"The Nikkei index today rebounded as investors cheered gains of US shares and a cheaper yen," Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

"It recovered to the 29,000 level for the first time in two weeks as risk-on sentiment grew on the back of the steady US jobs environment," it added.

The dollar stood at 109.88 yen from 109.83 yen in New York Thursday and higher from 109.07 yen in Tokyo Thursday.

The dollar's rise usually drives up Japanese exporter shares and the overall Tokyo market.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo market has largely factored in the government's plan to extend a virus state of emergency in key regions, including Tokyo and Osaka, to June 20, Okasan added.

The market also barely reacted to the announcement that Japan's unemployment rate in April rose to 2.8 percent from 2.6 percent in the previous month.

Capital Economics said it expected Japan's employment and the labour force to return to pre-virus levels in the second half of the year as vaccines allow the economy to return to full health.

Among major shares, automakers were higher with Toyota climbing 1.72 percent to 9,135 yen, Honda jumping 3.61 percent to 3,468 yen and Nissan gaining 3.09 percent to 553.3 yen.

Uniqlo-operator Fast Retailing added 2.10 percent to 89,830 yen while market heavyweight SoftBank Group soared 3.65 percent to 8,288 yen.

Tokyo Electron, a major producer of tools to build semiconductors, advanced 2.48 percent to 48,290 yen.