The Nikkei ended up 0.94% at 26,911.20 points and the broader Topix index gained 0.96% at 1,884.69 points.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended Wednesday clearly in the green, having notably regained confidence following a sharp rebound the day before on Wall Street and positive American indicators, while Hong Kong climbed more moderately.
The flagship Nikkei index ended up 0.94% at 26,911.20 points and the broader Topix index gained 0.96% at 1,884.69 points.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up more modestly by 0.27% around 06:10 GMT, weighed down in particular by a disappointing real estate indicator in China.
The New York Stock Exchange rebounded sharply on Tuesday, driven by technology stocks following seven weeks of losses for the Nasdaq index, which jumped 2.76%.
Retail sales continued to rise in April in the United States, an increase however driven in part by inflation and not only by demand. And US industrial production accelerated further last month.
US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that his institution will have to act “more aggressively” if US inflation does not decelerate quickly enough. But he showed himself at the same time anxious not to break American growth.
On the side of values
RENESAS TO REOPEN A SEMICONDUCTOR FACTORY: Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Renesas (+3.72% to 1,447 yen) announced on Tuesday that it would invest 90 billion yen (658 million euros) to restart one of its factories in Japan that it had closed in 2014. This factory should reopen in 2024 to manufacture power semiconductors reducing energy consumption, intended in particular for electric vehicles.
CHINESE TECH NOT REASSURED: the titles of the Chinese digital giants did not benefit from vague promises expressed the day before by Beijing to support the local sector, scalded by a brutal regulatory tightening for a year and a half. On the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Chinese e-commerce behemoths JD.com and Alibaba each lost more than 1%, as did the internet services group Tencent.
On the side of oil and currencies
Oil was shared: around 06:35 GMT the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 0.42% to 112.87 dollars while that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea was close to equilibrium (-0.04% to $111.88).
The yen appreciated once morest the dollar, at the rate of one dollar for 129.13 yen around 06:50 GMT once morest 129.38 yen on Tuesday at 21:00 GMT.
The Japanese currency also gained ground once morest the euro, which traded at 135.86 yen once morest 136.50 the day before.
The euro fell to 1.0520 dollars once morest 1.0550 dollars on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
