TOKYO: Japanese stocks rallied on the first trading day of 2018, with the Nikkei and Topix pushing to multi-decade highs as brokerage and oil shares surged.Catching up to overseas gains after the long Japanese New Year's holiday, the Nikkei share average finished up 3.26 per cent at its session high of 23,506.33, its highest level since January 1992.Thursday's gain was the Nikkei's biggest for one day since Nov. 10, 2016. Nomura Holdings added 3.16 per cent and Daiwa Securities Group was up 3.82 per cent.Buoyant crude prices boosted the oil & coal subindex by 3.73 per cent. JXTG Holdings added 3.99 per cent and Cosmo Energy Holdings was 7.29 per cent higher.Crude oil futures rose about 2 per cent on Wednesday to their highest in 2-1/2 years, lifted by unrest in OPEC member Iran and strong U.S. and German economic dataSemiconductor-related shares also outperformed, in line with their U.S. counterparts and PHLX Semiconductor Sector gains. Tokyo Electron shares rose 6.18 per cent, and Screen Holdings shares were up 6.51 per cent.Nintendo shares climbed 4.90 per cent. The Financial Times reported on Monday that game developer Niantic Inc plans to launch its blockbuster Pokemon Go augmented reality game, in which Nintendo has a stake, in China through a partnership deal with local company NetEase.Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shares were 2.57 per cent higher, after the head of the company's aircraft unit said it was on track to deliver its repeatedly delayed commercial jet by mid-2020 despite risk of an order cancellation.

Source: Economic Times January 04, 2018 04:52 UTC