Nikkei closes at 3-week high

Nikkei index closed at its highest level in three weeks on Wednesday as investors repurchased stocks that had fallen in price and was prompted by an overnight rise on Wall Street that lifted market sentiment.

According to Reuters, the Nikkei ended the session up 0.33%, recording 32,333.46 points, which is the highest level since August 10, following continuous gains for the third session in a row.

The broader Topix index rose 0.43% to 2,313.38 points.

Wall Street closed sharply higher overnight after a decline in the number of monthly new jobs reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) would stop raising interest rates.

Tokyo Electron, a manufacturer of chip manufacturing equipment, rose 0.97 percent, providing the largest support to Nikkei. Advantest, a manufacturer of chip testing equipment, also increased 0.7 percent, and Kyocera, a manufacturer of electronic components, rose 2.33 percent.

The banking sector rose 1.41%, becoming the best performing sub-sector among the 33 sub-sectors of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Toyota Motor shares rose 1.03% after the largest car company in the world by sales volume said that it would resume operations in assembly plants in Japan today after a malfunction in one of the production systems led to the cessation of local production.

The performance of retail companies’ stocks was weak, with shares of companies operating department stores declining. Takashimaya shares fell 1.49%, recording the worst performance on the Nikkei. The shares of Seven & I, which operates food stores, fell by 1.6%, and Fast Retailing, which owns the Uniqlo brand, fell by 0.63%, which put the greatest pressure on the Nikkei.