Tokyo: Shares track Wall Street higher, tech stocks lead gains

[TOKYO] Japanese shares rose on Wednesday (Feb 16) after 2 straight sessions of decline, led by technology stocks tracking gains in their US peers, after signs of de-escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine drove Wall Street sharply higher.

The Nikkei share average jumped 2.2 per cent to close at 27,460.40, while the broader Topix climbed 1.67 per cent to 1,946.63.

"Japanese market rebounded from a sharp fall in the previous session because the US market jumped overnight," said Takatoshi Itoshima, strategist at Pictet Asset Management.

"But the gains were capped by weakness of the Nasdaq futures this morning. And the Russia-Ukraine tension will remain as a main focus for the market for about a week or so."

Wall Street ended sharply higher overnight, as geopolitical heat was turned down a notch after Russia said it had withdrawn some of its troops near the Ukraine border, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index posting its largest 1-day percentage gain since March 2021.

In Tokyo, chip-related Tokyo Electron provided the biggest boost for the Nikkei, rising 4.91 per cent and Advantest climbed 4.78 per cent. Sensor maker TDK jumped 5.1 per cent.

Asahi Holdings rose 4.9 per cent after the beer maker said it would close factories in 2 locations in Japan at the end of January to boost its productivities.

Tyre maker Bridgestone jumped 7.39 per cent after announcing a share buyback.

As oil prices fell, an explorer Inpex lost 3.40 per cent and became the worst performer on the Nikkei. Refiner Idemitsu Kosan fell 1.91 per cent.

There were 207 advancers on the Nikkei index against 16 decliners.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 920 million, compared to the average of 1.3 billion in the past 30 days. REUTERS