Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday, as a result in US presidential election appeared imminent.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended up 1.73 percent or 410.05 points at 24,105.28 while the broader Topix index was up 1.39 percent or 22.69 points at 1,649.94.

The prospect of an election win for Joe Biden was fuelling the gains, Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary.

He said the market was “supported by optimism that the US presidential election will soon have a final result, with speculation Biden is edging closer to victory”.

The knife-edge presidential race has tilted toward Democrat Biden with wins in Michigan and Wisconsin bringing him close to a majority, but President Donald Trump claimed — without offering any evidence — that he was being cheated and went to court to try and stop vote-counting.

The dollar fetched 104.30 yen in Asian trade, against 104.50 yen in New York late Wednesday.

In Tokyo, pharmaceutical firm Eisai surged 17.91 percent to the day’s cap of 9,875 yen after a US Food and Drug Administration report said an experimental Alzheimer’s therapy it co-developed with Biogen appears effective.

Gaming giant Nintendo ended up 2.17 percent at 57,910 yen ahead of its earnings report due later Thursday.

Small-car specialist Suzuki Motor rallied 4.89 percent to 4,894 yen. After the market close, it posted a 31.5 percent year-on-year decline in net profit in the six months to September and forecast 110 billion yen ($1.05 billion) net profit for the fiscal year to March 2021, down 18 percent from the previous year.

SoftBank Group rallied 5.12 percent to end at 6,870 yen after a report said an Abu Dhabi wealth fund had led a $700 million funding round for a technology start-up backed by the conglomerate.

AFP