Japanese shares end higher on economic recovery hopes

TOKYO: Japanese shares closed higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei touching a five-month high, as investors hoped that the new prime minister could spur a recovery with improved measures to tackle the coronavirus crisis and its economic impact.

The Nikkei share average ended up 0.86% at 29,916.14 after hitting the 30,000-level for the first time since April 9. The broader Topix jumped 1.09% to 2,063.38.

The Nikkei has gained for seven straight sessions, the longest winning streak since early-November when Joe Biden won the US presidential election.

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The market's upbeat run received a fillip after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga made an abrupt announcement on Friday that he would not seek a re-election at the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leadership race this month.

Fumio Kishida, a strong contender to succeed Suga, has called for a stimulus package of more than 30 trillion yen ($273 billion) to cushion the economic blow from the pandemic, a magazine reported.

"This momentum will continue as long as we see signs that the ruling coalition will win at the general election. If the vaccination rate will rise and new infections will keep falling, that would also be another tailwind for the market," said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities.

SoftBank Group surged 9.86% after the global tech investor made a strategic share swap deal with Deutsche Telekom.

Murata Manufacturing and robot maker Keyence jumped 5.5% and 4.91%, respectively, after an announcement that they would be added to the Nikkei 225 in a reshuffle of the benchmark next month.

Nintendo, which will be also included in the benchmark, gained 0.98%.

Meanwhile, Sky Perfect JSAT Holdings, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings and Nisshinbo Holdings will be removed from the benchmark.

Nisshinbo and Toyo Seikan tumbled 10.97% and 15.3%, respectively, while Sky Perfect gained 2.61%.