TOKYO, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index closed at a near two-month high on Tuesday as semiconductor and other technology issues followed their U.S. peers higher overnight.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 344.47 points, or 1.25 percent, from Monday to end the day at 27,872.11, marking its highest closing level since Sept. 15.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, added 23.47 points, or 1.21 percent, to finish at 1,957.56.
Dealers here said market sentiment was lifted by U.S. shares gaining overnight on eased concerns over the future course of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, although some concerns remain over the health of the U.S. economy amid political uncertainty, they added.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closing in positive territory overnight gave semiconductor and technology issues here a boost, with market strategists saying that growth shares performed well as they had been oversold.
“The market was highly influenced by the performance of U.S. equities overnight,” Yugo Tsuboi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, was quoted as saying.
“Particularly growth shares were strong. This is because foreign investors, who oversold Japanese shares, bought back those shares. This could be a sign that they saw momentum coming back in the Japanese market,” Tsuboi said.
By the close of play, insurance, marine transportation and real estate issues comprised those that gained the most.
Among semiconductor-linked issues finding traction, Advantest jumped 3 percent, while Nikkei heavyweight Tokyo Electron leapt 3.3 percent.
Chipmaker Screen Holdings advanced 3 percent, while technology investor and heavily-weighted component SoftBank Group ended the day 5 percent higher.
Sony Group was another notable winner, advancing 3.3 percent in positive territory, while Yamaha Motor accelerated 12.8 percent, after upwardly revising its earnings forecast for the year ending in December.
Issues that rose outpaced those that fell by 1,431 to 335, while 71 ended the day unchanged.
On the Prime Market on Tuesday, 1,344.69 million shares changed hands, rising from Monday’s volume of 1,233.59 million shares.
The turnover on the second trading day of the week came to 3,323.72 billion yen (22.66 billion U.S. dollars).