TOKYO: Japanese equities headed for their fourth straight week of gains, with heavyweight chipmakers driving gains on Friday, as investors gripped by the fear-of-missing-out, or FOMO, bet on the major indexes extending their rally.
Hopes for new leadership, rising COVID-19 vaccinations and easing infections have powered a more than 8% jump in the Nikkei share average for the month so far. The rally cooled off in the past two sessions, but the benchmark is still on track for a 0.34% weekly gain.
It added 0.46% to 30,463.54 by 0217 GMT on Friday. The broader Topix gained 0.30% to 2,096.31.
"Shares rose because some investors wanted to boost weightings of Japanese stocks in their portfolio. And there is a demand from those who failed to buy Japanese stocks in a rally earlier this month," said Jun Morita, general manager of the research department at Chibagin Asset Management.
Medical services platform provider M3 led the Nikkei's gain with a 4.5% rise, followed by chip-related stocks Tokyo Electron and Advantest, which rose 1.42% and 2.26%, respectively.
Shipping firms were the top gainers among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry subindexes, with Nippon Yusen jumping 2.68% and Kawasaki Kisen rising 2.74%.
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Drug maker Daiichi Sankyo gained the most among the top 30 core Topix names, with a 2.78% rise, followed by Shin-Etsu Chemical, also chip-related, rising 1.64%.
On the flipside, Nippon Steel tumbled 6.16% after the steel maker priced its 300 billion yen ($2.73 billion) worth of convertible bonds. Its peers Kobe Steel and JFE Holdings lost 3.52% and 2.34%, respectively.
Mitsui & Co Ltd, down 1.58%, was the worst performer among the Topix 30, followed by Hoya, losing 1.39%.
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