TOKYO, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed higher Wednesday as buying was spurred by the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve easing its aggressive rate hikes following job openings data in the world's largest economy missing median market expectations.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 128.32 points, or 0.48 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 27,120.53.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, gained 6.03 points, or 0.32 percent, to finish at 1,912.92.
Trading got off to a positive start, brokers here said, with stocks tracking Wall Street's solid gains overnight, and the Nikkei surpassed the psychologically important 27,000 barrier for the first time since Sept. 22.
They explained that the number of job openings in the United States tumbled by more than 1 million in August to 10.05 million, marking a 10 percent decline from the 11.17 million openings reported in July, according to data released Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The figure, the largest one-month drop since April 2020, came well below median market expectations and raised the prospect of the Fed tempering its aggressive monetary tightening policy amid an ultra-tight labor market, a contributing factor in soaring inflation in the United States, analysts here said.
"As a labor shortage has been a major factor for rising inflation in the United States, the data signaling a loosening of the labor market led to speculation that the market had overly priced in aggressive rate hikes by the Fed," Toshikazu Horiuchi, an equity strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
The sentiment here was also buoyed by Australia's central bank breaking the current trend of aggressive hikes by slowing its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage point on Tuesday, compared to expectations for a 0.5 point increase.
Dealers here said that while market participants would now be eyeing other central banks and preceding economic data to deduce if their interest rates might be eased, some analysts said with reference to the Fed, its future moves still remained uncertain.
"The Reserve Bank of Australia may have slowed the pace of its interest rate hikes, but it's unclear whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will follow. We still need to watch for economic data and statements from Fed officials," Masahiro Yamaguchi, head of investment research at SMBC Trust Bank, was quoted as saying.
In terms of upcoming data, Yamaguchi was referring to last month's key U.S. employment data from payroll processor ADP and U.S. non-manufacturing data from the Institute for Supply Management, both due out later in the day.
By the close of play, precision instrument, textile and apparel, and insurance issues comprised those that gained the most, and rising issues outpaced falling ones by 898 to 849 on the Prime Market, while 89 ended the day unchanged.
Nikkei heavyweight Fast Retailing gained 0.9 percent and helped prop-up the broader market, after reporting on Tuesday its domestic Uniqlo clothing stores' sales increased 11 percent year on year in September.
But lifestyle store Muji's parent company Ryohin Keikaku Co. dropped 3.1 percent after sales fell 14 percent in September.
Canon added 0.8 percent following reports of a hefty investment plan to boost its output of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment here, although Nippon Sheet Glass Co. was a notable drag, ending the day down 4.3 percent.
On the Prime Market on Wednesday, 1,185.70 million shares changed hands, rising from Tuesday's volume of 1,378.66 million shares.
The turnover on the third trading day of the week came to 2,826.94 billion yen (19.59 billion U.S. dollars). ■