TOKYO: Tokyo stocks shot up Friday to extend their winning streak to a fourth market day, boosted by a continued Wall Street rally and a rise in the futures market.

The Nikkei average of 225 selected issues listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange went up 506.19 points, or 1.73 percent, to finish at 29,717.83, after rising 175.08 points Thursday.

The TOPIX index of all first-section issues closed 26.14 points, or 1.36 percent, higher at 1,951.06, following a 5.18-point gain the previous day.

The market opened firmer, after the U.S. Dow Jones industrial average rewrote its record closing high for the second straight day and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index staged a powerful rebound on Thursday as economic recovery hopes were swelled by U.S. President Joe Biden signing the 1.9-trllion-dollar coronavirus relief package into law, brokers said.

Although both the Nikkei and TOPIX indexes dipped into negative terrain under the weight of selling to lock in gains ahead of policy-setting meetings of the Japanese and U.S. central banks next week, they quickly headed north thanks to buybacks and accelerated moves to buy the dip.

Stocks gained further ground in the afternoon, as players stepped up purchases in view of vigorous buying of the front-month futures contract on the Nikkei average, brokers said.       

“Foreign funds came to build fresh long positions on the June contract after the March contract was settled earlier the same day,” said an official at a bank-affiliated brokerage house.

On top of the Wall Street upswing, European stocks’ advance in response to the European Central Bank’s decision Thursday to pick up its bond buying pace served as a tailwind for the Tokyo market, another broker said.

“Participants felt comfortable buying as they saw a rally in U.S. long-term interest rates take a breather,” Maki Sawada, strategist at Nomura Securities Co., said.

On the first section, gainers far outnumbered decliners 1,243 to 844, while 108 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1,582 million shares from Thursday’s 1,377 million shares.

Semiconductor-sector issues attracted active buying, with testing device manufacturer Advantest soaring 4.56 percent and production equipment maker Tokyo Electron 4.48 percent.

SoftBank Group jumped 3.35 percent, after South Korean e-commerce company Coupang, where the Japanese tech investor has a stake, went public on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Suzuki gained 2.68 percent, following Mizuho Securities Co.’s lifting of its target stock price for the automaker.

On the other hand, realtor Mitsui Fudosan dropped for the third consecutive session, amid weak demand for offices in central Tokyo.

In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average rose 550 points to end at 29,590.

JIJI Press