TOKYO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed higher on Thursday as major semiconductor issues advancing and foreign investors seeking out Japanese stocks outweighed ongoing concerns over the U.S. debt ceiling issue.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 118.45 points, or 0.39 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 30,801.13.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, lost 6.25 points, or 0.29 percent, to finish at 2,146.15.
Dealers here said buying of heavily-weighted chip-linked stocks like Advantest buoyed the broader market following solid earning reported by U.S. chipmaker Nvidia Corp.
"The Nikkei rose around 200 points just on Advantest and Tokyo Electron alone," Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
From a broader perspective, some market strategists noted that foreign investors were switching from U.S. to Japanese equities, amid concerns over the future course of the U.S economy in terms of its shaky banking system, the U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening policy and the current debt ceiling woes.
"Foreign investors are buying Japanese equities instead of U.S. equities because economic conditions are not good in the United States due to the banking problems, financial tightening, and the debt ceiling issue," Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities, was quoted as saying.
Concerns regarding slow-moving negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling issue to avert an unprecedented default weighed heavily on the financial sector Thursday, market analysts here said.
Among chip-linked issues rising on the back of Nvidia Corp.'s better-than-expected earnings, semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 3.0 percent, while chip-testing equipment maker Advantest rocketed 16.2 percent.
Online retailer Rakuten Group Inc. added 0.7 percent after it set the price for a public and private share sale, but department store operators lost ground, with Matsuya losing 1.0 percent, while Takashimaya fell 1.0 percent.
By the close of play, electrical appliance, metal product and glass and ceramic product-oriented issues comprised those that gained the most.
Marine transportation, bank and insurance issues, meanwhile, led notable decliners.
The turnover on the Prime Market on the penultimate trading day of the week came to 3,468.63 billion yen (24.89 billion U.S. dollars). ■