Japan’s Nikkei share average hit a near 29-1/2-year high on Thursday, as tech shares gained after their US peers drove the Nasdaq higher overnight, while some profit-booking after a rally on COVID-19 vaccine related developments capped gains.

The benchmark Nikkei share average rose 0.43% to 25,459.13 by the midday break, after hitting its highest level since June 5, 1991 earlier in the session.

The broader Topix, however, lost 0.25% to 1,724.77, with only seven of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange traded higher.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended 2% higher on Wednesday, after “stay-at-home” stocks bounced back from two straight sessions of sharp losses as investors moved away from economically sensitive sectors back to tech.

Japan’s tech-related shares such as Nikkei’s heavyweight SoftBank Group benefitted from gains in their U.S. counterparts, climbing around 1.5%.

IT equipment and service firms Fujitsu and NEC Corp rose around 1.6% and 0.5%, respectively.

Among gainers of the top 30 core Topix names, Nintendo jumped 3.62% and is poised to snap four consecutive sessions of losses.

Vaccine rally continued to lift risk sentiment, but some investors took to profit-booking as they turned cautious after near three-decade highs touched this week, market participants said.

Elsewhere, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings fell 5.79% after it reported its half-year net loss of 36.79 billion yen ($349.48 million).

Some of its department store peers followed suit, with Takashimaya dropping 5.17%, while J.Front Retailing lost 4.12%. ($1 = 105.2700 yen)

Reuters