Japan's Nikkei share average rose more than 1% on Thursday in its third straight session of gains, as technology heavyweights tracked their Wall Street peers higher.
The Nikkei climbed 1.23% to 50,167.1, closing above the key 50,000 level for the first time since November 17. The broader Topix rose 0.39% to 3,368.57.
"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 3.57% in its second straight session of gains. The stock fell to a more than two-month low earlier this week and traded 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 4.88%, while chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 3.24%.
These three stocks together added 461 points to the Nikkei, which rose by 608 points on Thursday.
Banks rose on growing bets of a Bank of Japan interest rate hike next month, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group up 1%. Yamaguchi Financial Group surged 10% after the regional banking group announced share buybacks.
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.
Investors took comments of BOJ board member Asahi Noguchi as less hawkish than expected, prompting them to buy bonds.
Sumber : Reuters
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