TOKYO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Topix index closed at a 33-year high on Tuesday, as companies reporting solid earnings and guidances were snapped-up, while technology-linked issues followed their U.S. peers higher overnight.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 216.65 points, or 0.73 percent, from Monday to close the day at 29,842.99, marking its highest closing level since September 2021.
The broader Topix, for its part, gained 12.33 points, or 0.58 percent, to finish at 2,127.18, to book its highest close since August 1990.
Local brokers said that domestic companies' earnings that did not come in below expectations found favor, with those beating median forecasts outperforming.
They added that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) holding steady on its monetary policy and not announcing any surprise tweaks to its policy or major moves to raise its interest rate, for the time being, had helped add to a sense of market stability.
"Market participants remained optimistic as many concerns such as an economic slowdown overseas or the BOJ dialing back its ultra-loose policy have not materialized," Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at the NLI Research Institute, was quoted as saying.
From a broader perspective, some analysts said domestic and overseas investors were looking at Japanese stocks from a fresh perspective and within a wider context of the country's economic fundamentals as they are at the moment, including the economy and, again, the central bank's stance.
"Investors, both at home and abroad, have taken a fresh look at Japanese stocks as overall their outlook was strong, while companies are trying to improve indicators of their stocks, such as price book ratio (PBR)," Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities, was quoted as saying.
"In addition, the fundamentals of the Japanese economy are strong, with demand for reopening after the pandemic. Japanese politics is also stable and the Bank of Japan is keeping the ultra-low policy," Arisawa added.
Among high-tech issues tracking their U.S. peers higher, chip-testing equipment manufacturer Advantest climbed 5.5 percent, while chip-manufacturing equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 4.2 percent.
Recruit Holdings helped buoy the Topix, leaping 3.5 percent, despite its annual profit report missing expectations, but Japan Post Holdings sank 6.9 percent, after its annual earnings came in subpar.
Rakuten Group Inc. was another notable decliner, sliding 5.1 percent, following reports the firm plans to issue new shares amid concerns over its shaky finances.
By the close of play, electric power and gas, pharmaceutical and food-linked issues comprised those that gained the most.
The turnover on the Prime Market on the second trading day of the week came to 3,552.93 billion yen (26.16 billion U.S. dollars). ■
