Japanese shares rallied on Friday with Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index breaching the 37,000 mark for the first time in 34 years, supported by overnight gains on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 index rose 0.44%, or 163.99 points, to 37,027.27, while the broader Topix index eased 0.08%, or 1.99 points, to 2,560.64.
Among Japanese stocks, SoftBank Group share price jumped 10.73% to 8,139 yen after the company returned to the black in the October-December period following four consecutive quarterly losses.
SoftBank shares extended gains from the 11.06% rise recorded on Thursday fuelled by a sharp surge of 48% in Arm’s shares, in which SoftBank still owns roughly 90% of the outstanding stock.
Honda share price was down 1.18% at 1,713.5 yen, while its rival Nissan share plunged 9.96% to 563.1 yen after its third-quarter operating profit missed analyst estimates.
Meanwhile, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded flat and was heading toward a 0.7% weekly rise to notch its longest weekly winning streak since June, Reuters reported.
Also Read: S&P 500 finishes just shy of 5,000 after latest push
Among other Asian markets, China, South Korea and Taiwan are shut, while Singapore and Hong Kong will see a half day of trading.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 2% in the morning.
Overnight on Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index notched a record close after briefly hitting the 5,000-point milestone for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.13%, while the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.24% higher.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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