TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is surging on Thursday, tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street on upbeat U.S. economic data and following reports of breakthroughs in the developments of treatments for the coronavirus. In addition, a weaker yen boosted exporters' stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is rising 420.57 points or 1.80 percent to 23,740.13, after touching a high of 23,781.16 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. is rising more than 2 percent and Fast Retailing is higher by almost 3 percent.
Among tech stocks, Advantest is adding almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is up 0.2 percent.
The major exporters are higher on a weaker yen. Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are rising more than 2 percent each, while Sony is higher by almost 2 percent. Panasonic is adding 0.4 percent.
Among auto stocks, Honda Motor is gaining almost 3 percent and Toyota Motor is rising almost 2 percent.
In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is advancing almost 3 percent and Inpex is higher by more than 2 percent after crude oil prices rose overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Z Holdings is gaining more than 8 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsui Chemicals are higher by more than 5 percent each.
Conversely, Fujikura is falling almost 10 percent.
DeNA Co., Nintendo Co.'s mobile partner, is losing more than 9 percent after the company said it will book a writedown of 49.4 billion yen and expects to report a loss in the year ending March 2020.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 109 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed at record highs on Wednesday following reports of breakthroughs in the developments of treatments for the coronavirus. A Reuters report, citing a Chinese TV source, said a research team at Zhejiang University has found an effective drug to treat people with the new virus. Sky News also reported that a leading British scientist has made a significant breakthrough in the race for a coronavirus vaccine by reducing a part of the normal development time from 'two to three years to just fourteen days.'
The Nasdaq rose 40.71 points or 0.4 percent to 9,508.68, the Dow surged up 483.22 points or 1.7 percent to 29,290.85 and the S&P 500 jumped 37.10 points or 1.1 percent to 3,334.69.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Wednesday. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday despite data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended January 31. Crude for March delivery jumped $1.14 or about 2.3 percent to $50.75 a barrel.
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