Japanese shares jump on bargain hunting, tech boost

Hoya

26/03/2021 03:13

TOKYO, March 26 (Reuters) - Japanese shares jumped on
Friday, led by a bounce back in tech shares, on bargain hunting
after a sharp retreat in the benchmark index Nikkei this week,
while overnight Wall Street gains on economic recovery hopes
also supported the sentiment. 
    Nikkei share average  .N225  advanced 1.1% to 29,046.55 by
0156 GMT, while the broader Topix  .TOPX  gained 1.13% to
1,977.89.  
    "This is a reaction from a sharp fall this week, which was
caused by no fundamental reasons," said Takashi Hiroki, chief
strategist at Monex Securities. 
    "Investors have been selling stocks to rebalance their
portfolios toward the end of the fiscal year ending March and
that weighed on the indexes, but that is almost over at the end
of the month." 
    Japanese shares were also supported by overnight gains on
the Wall Street, buoyed by renewed optimism for economic
recovery after U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to double his
Administration's vaccination rollout plan.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LN26K
    Tech start-up investor SoftBank Group  9984.T  rose 1.73%
and was the top contributer to Nikkei, while chip-related shares
 Tokyo Electron  8035.T  and Advantest  6857.T  jumped 1.7% and
3.29%, respetively.  
    Toyota Motor  7203.T  and Sony  6758.T  were the biggest
contributors to the Topix index, rising 2.46% and 2.05%,
respectively.     
    All the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange traded
higher, with materials and transport sectors leading gains. 
    Top 30 core Topix gainers were Daiichi Sankyo  4568.T , up
2.59 %, followed by Hoya  7741.T . 
    Top underperformers among the Topix 30 were Keyence 
 6861.T  and Murata Manufacturing  6981.T  losing 1.34% and
0.36%, respectively.
    There were 206 advancers on the Nikkei index against 17
decliners.

 (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((813-4563-2711, junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters
Messaging:junko.fujita.reuters.com@reuters.net;))