Tokyo stocks rallied on Thursday in line with a broad Asian advance, as bargain-buyers moved in to help the market recover from a six-day losing streak.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.47 percent, or 322.80 points, to 22,351.12 while the broader Topix index climbed 1.01 percent, or 17.70 points, to 1,761.71. "Concerns over the rapid pace in the rise of Tokyo shares eased after six straight days of declines," Hideyuki Suzuki, senior analyst at SBI Securities, told AFP.
"Japanese shares fell yesterday as foreign markets also dropped, but the same factor is not weighing on the market today," said Suzuki, adding there is some room for the key index to further rise given strong earnings reports issued recently by Japanese companies. The Nikkei hit a quarter-century high last week but then fell for six straight days.
Wall Street also dropped on Wednesday as weak oil prices and fears of a delay in US tax reforms hurt investor sentiment. The dollar has also been under pressure, changing hands at 112.96 yen Thursday, slightly up from 112.85 in New York Wednesday afternoon but still down from 113.21 yen in Tokyo earlier in the day. A stronger yen is usually a drag on the Tokyo stock market as it erodes the profitability of Japanese exporters.
SoftBank rose 2.20 percent to 9,546 yen after Bloomberg News reported the high-tech giant planned to invest as much as $25 billion in Saudi Arabia over the next three to four years. Energy stocks continued to fall, with oil explorer Inpex off 1.91 percent at 1,257.5 yen at the close and Japan Petroleum Exploration down 0.86 percent at 2,401 yen.
Automaker Subaru closed 0.77 percent higher at 3,622 yen, despite its announcement it would recall nearly 400,000 cars in Japan over a scandal that appeared similar to an inspection crisis that hit its bigger rival Nissan.
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