Japanese stock indices close higher after statements from a Bank of Japan member.

Japanese stock indexes continued to expand their gains for the fourth consecutive session, as the main Nikkei index closed higher on Thursday, buoyed by record earnings from U.S. stock indexes on Wall Street. This was also supported by comments from Bank of Japan board member Nakamura, who stated that he does not see the current time as appropriate for raising interest rates again. However, gains were limited as investors awaited U.S. labor market data to be released tomorrow.

In terms of trading, the Nikkei NIKKEI 225 closed today’s session up 0.3% at 39,395.60 points, after the index touched its highest level since November 12 at 39,632.30 points earlier in the session, before wiping out some of those gains. Meanwhile, the broader Topix TOPIX index ended the session up about 0.1% at 2,742.24 points.

The gains were mainly driven by the performance of Japanese technology stocks, which mirrored their American counterparts. Shares of chip-testing equipment maker Advantest rose by 3.4%, and shares of electronics component manufacturer Fujikura increased by 3.1%. Additionally, shares of the financial conglomerate SoftBank—focused on investing in startups related to artificial intelligence applications—rose by 1.2%.

Also, shares of Casio Computer surged by 4.6%, making it the top performer percentage-wise among all gainers today. Shares of other heavyweights in the Nikkei also increased, notably shares of recruiting firm Recruit Holdings, which rose by 3%.

On the other hand, the biggest percentage losses on the Nikkei were seen in shares of Japanese steel company Japan Steel Works, which fell by 5.4%, followed by shares of pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo, which lost 3.6%.