Nikkei gains the most in a month thanks to chipmaker shares

Japan’s Nikkei index recorded its biggest jump in a month on Friday, recovering from its lowest level in a month, which it reached in the previous session, as chip-related stocks rose and the Bank of Japan’s upcoming governor supported the current monetary easing policy.

According to Reuters, the index ended Friday, up 1.29 percent, to 27,453.48 points. The Nikkei fell to its lowest level since January 23 at 27,046.08 points on Wednesday.

Japanese markets were closed on Thursday for a national holiday

Industry giants Tokyo Electron and Advantest contributed nearly half of the Nikkei’s total gains of 349 points. Advantest was the best performer, up 8.22 percent, followed by Tokyo Electron, up 7.13 percent, after their US counterpart Nvidia said quarterly sales were better than expected.

The broader Topix index rose 0.67 percent to 1,986.43 points.

Kazuo Ueda, the candidate for the position of governor of the Bank of Japan, began his statement to parliament for several hours, saying that the current policy of the central bank is “appropriate” and “necessary.”

Earlier on Friday, data showed that consumer price inflation in Japan reached a 41-year high in January.