Japanese shares hit multi-month highs on Nasdaq rebound

TOKYO: Japan's Topix Index jumped the most in seven months, as a pause in selloffs in U.S. treasuries boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq index and lifted domestic shares of chipmakers.

The benchmark index jumped 2.04% to 1,894.94, the largest gain since Aug. 11, while the the Nikkei share average advanced 2.41% to 29,663.50, the biggest gain since Dec. 29, 2020.


Shares on Monday bounced back following their worst drop in almost a year last week after a spike in global bond yields spooked investors already uneasy about the market's stretched valuation.

"The Nikkei will reclaim the 30,000 level sooner or later, depending on how the U.S. bond yields will perform," said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.

"In the first place, the yields rose on expectations for an economic rebound, which is not a bad news for the stock market."

Nasdaq index, composed mainly of tech shares that are sensitive to rising yields, rose 0.56% on Friday after U.S. bond yields peaked, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%, and the S&P 500 edged down 0.48.

Shares of chipamkers jumped in Japan, with Tokyo Electron rising 2.09%, Advantest adding 4.23% and Screen Holdings jumping 3.49%.

Index heavyweight SoftBank Group, up 5.46%, was the biggest contributor to Nikkei's gain, followed by Uniqlo clothing store operator Fast Retailing, which jumped 2.71%.

Itochu jumped 3.91% after Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a holding of a 5.1% stake in the trading house, as of Dec. 31.

The largest percentage gainer in the Nikkei index was NTT Data, which surged 8.12%, followed by Haseko gaining 5.92 % and Nippon Sheet Glass up 5.57%.

The largest percentage losers were Sharp Corp, which fell 2.83 %, followed by Rakuten losing 2.02 % and West Japan Railway Co down 0.88%.

There were 206 advancers in the Nikkei index against 17 decliners.

All the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange traded higher.