Nikkei rises more than 1% as tech stocks rally on Wall Street strength

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average rose more than 1% on Thursday, extending gains to a third session, as technology heavyweights tracked their Wall Street peers higher.

The Nikkei climbed 1.2% to 50,144.19 by 0123 GMT, crossing the key 50,000 level for the first time since November 20.

The broader Topix rose 0.51% to 3,372.44.

“Technology stocks lifted Wall Street overnight, and the Japanese market exactly mirrored it today,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.

Wall Street extended its rally on Wednesday as revived tech strength and the increasing probability of a December interest rate cut put investors in a buying mood the day before the Thanksgiving holiday.

In Japan, technology investor SoftBank Group rose 4.2% in a second straight session of gains.

The stock fell to a more than two-month low earlier this week and traded nearly 40% below its late October peak on Thursday.

“Investors continued to buy SoftBank Group shares on a dip,” Yasuda said.

Other artificial intelligence-related shares also rose, with chip-testing equipment maker Advantest jumping 4.45%, while chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 2.6%.

These three stocks together added about 440 points to the Nikkei, which rose by 620 points on Thursday.

Banks rose on growing bets of a Bank of Japan interest rate hike next month.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 2% and Mizuho Financial Group gained 0.26%. Swap rates indicated a 33.9% chance of a rate hike to 0.75% on December 19, when the Bank of Japan concludes its two-day policy meeting.

“In the previous meetings, two board members dissented to the hold decision and instead proposed raising rates, but looking at the recent BOJ communication, there could be at least four members who may support a rate hike,” said Yasuda.

Of the more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 69% rose, 25% fell and 4% traded flat.