Japanese stocks soar as the Nikkei surpasses 40,000 for the first time in two months.

since Two hours

Japanese stocks experienced a significant jump during today's trading, with the main Japanese stock index, Nikkei, opening Wednesday's session with a large gap upwards, closing at its highest level in nearly two months after surpassing the 40,000-point mark during mid-session trading, a level previously recorded on October 15. It later reduced its gains and closed just below this level.

At the end of trading, the Nikkei 225 index closed up by 1.21% or 476.91 points, standing at 39,849.14 points, after reaching 40,091.55 points earlier in the session. At the same time, the broader TOPIX index rose by 0.86% or 23.72 points to close at 2,773.03 points.

This substantial rise in Japanese stocks today was driven by the strong earnings seen in American stocks on Wall Street yesterday, which propelled the tech-heavy Nasdaq index to cross the 20,000-point threshold for the first time ever, amid rising expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower interest rates at its meeting next week following inflation data that matched expectations.

The rise in Tokyo's Japanese stocks session was led by technology sector stocks, particularly those related to semiconductor companies, which attracted buying activity following the surge in high-tech stocks in the U.S. the previous day.

Looking at the performance of individual stocks, Advantest, a chip-testing equipment manufacturer, saw its shares rise by 5%, making it the largest contributor to the Nikkei index. Meanwhile, Fast Retailing, the owner of Uniqlo, saw its shares increase by 0.87%, while Shin-Etsu Chemical's shares, which manufacture silicon wafers, fell by 0.77%, becoming the biggest loser on the Nikkei index.

In currency trading in Tokyo on Thursday morning, the yen lost some of its strength against the U.S. dollar, with the dollar reaching 152.76 yen, amid growing speculation that the Bank of Japan may refrain from making any further interest rate hikes at its monetary policy meeting next week.