INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei share average rallied on Thursday, pulling away from a 20-month low, after Wall Street rebounded sharply from deep
losses suffered earlier this week.
The Nikkei ended the day up 3.88 per cent at 20,077.62, posting its biggest one-day per centage gain
The index, which had sunk into bear market territory this week, hit 18,948.58 on Wednesday - its lowest since late April 2017.
Index
heavyweight SoftBank Group advanced 4.7 per cent and Fast Retailing rose 1.3 per cent.
The Dow surged more than 1,000 points for the first
time overnight, leading a broad Wall Street rebound after a report of robust holiday sales helped mollify concerns about the health of the
US economy.
Earlier, Wall Street had suffered its worst-ever Christmas Eve drop on the back of factors including turmoil in the White
House.
"Japanese shares may be higher, but with market volatility so high, tomorrow could be an entirely different story," said Soichiro
Monji, senior economist at Daiwa SB Investments.
"Equities are moving up and down in holiday-thinned trade, and it would take the return of
many investors next year for the market to gather its bearings."
Energy-related shares were boosted as oil surged, posting its strongest
daily gain in more than two years in a partial rebound from steep losses that had pushed crude benchmarks to lows not seen since
2017.
Petroleum product majors Inpex Corp and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co rose 4.2 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively
Oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan climbed 10 per cent and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK advanced 8 per cent.
Taking comfort from a strong rebound in their
US peers, technology shares also gained.
Tokyo Electron rose 3.1 per cent, Screen Holdings climbed 3.8 per cent and Advantest Corp soared
Sony Corp was up 5.5 per cent.
Information technology company Cybozu Inc jumped 12 per cent after it raised its profit outlook for the year
through December 2018.
The broader Topix ended the day up 4.9 per cent at 1,501.63 following a descent to 1,408.89 on Wednesday, its lowest
since November 2016.
All of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 subindexes were in positive territory, led by oil and coal products
