TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei index closed at its highest in two-and-a-half months, as technology heavyweights tracked Wall Street’s overnight gains and energy shares rose on firmer oil prices.
The Nikkei share average rose 1.04% to close at 28,234.29, its highest close since March 29. It also marked a four-day winning streak. The broader Topix jumped 1.18% to 1,969.98.
“The Nikkei crossed a 200-day moving average — which foreign investors pay attention to — in the previous session and that prompted investors to make further bets today,” said Shuji Hosoi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
US stocks ended higher overnight along with Apple and other technology shares, while Target Corp’s disappointing margin forecast weighed on retail stocks for much of the day.
The Nikkei was led by air-conditioning maker Daikin Industries, which rose 3.63%, and technology investor SoftBank Group’s 2.45% gain. Medical services platform M3 jumped 5.61% and robot maker Fanuc climbed 2.38%.
Oil explorers added 4.7% to be the top gaining sector among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes.
Real estate shares rose 2.82%, with Tokyu Fudosan Holdings jumping 4.31%.
Insurers and banks fell 0.91% and 0.85%, respectively, after US Treasury yields fell.
Dai-ichi Life Holdings lost 2.16% and was one of the top losers on the Nikkei.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc was the worst performer among the top core 30 Topix names, falling 1.46%.
Fast Retailing was almost flat in a see-saw trade after the Uniqlo owner said it would raise prices on some goods this fall.
There were 163 advancers on the Nikkei index against 59 decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board was 1.33 billion, compared to the average of 1.34 billion in the past 30 days.
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