Japan stocks track Wall Street's solid finish to close week higher

TOKYO: Japanese shares closed higher on Friday, as cyclicals and technology stocks tracked a strong finish on Wall Street, although the gains were capped by concerns over the country's economic recovery and amid a cautious outlook of US equities.

The Nikkei share average rose 0.66% to close at 29,066.18, while the broader Topix advanced 0.80% to 1,962.65.

For the week, the Nikkei gained 0.35% to climb just above the 29,000-mark, which market participants said has become a psychological barrier as Japan's outlook of an economic recovery remains uncertain.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at record highs overnight, while the Dow jumped almost 1% after US President Joe Biden embraced a bipartisan Senate infrastructure deal.

"Today's (Friday) market is tracking Wall Street's strong gains. But investors, particularly in Japan, are getting wary of US markets taking a pause anytime soon," Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities said.

"Prospects of an economic recovery in Japan are getting unclear as the number of new COVID-19 infections is on the rise again, and the pandemic could worsen as the country plans to conduct the Olympics."

Cyclical shares rose, with oil and coal developers and steel makers leading the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 sector sub-indexes.

Technology stocks also advanced, with Tokyo Electron rising 0.7%, Advantest jumping 1.5%, Fanuc gaining 1.66%.

Shares of Panasonic jumped 4.93% as a filing made by the conglomerate showed it had sold its entire stake in Tesla last fiscal year.

Crisis-ridden Toshiba ended 0.62% lower after rising up to 1.4% as shareholders voted out its board chairman and another director at its annual general meeting.

Mazda Motor Corp, up 8.7%, gained the most on the Nikkei, followed by Kobe Steel rising 4.8%.

Eisai, down 3.96%, was the biggest loser, followed by Mitsui OSK Lines losing 1.34 % and CyberAgent I down 1.29%.