People wearing face masks walk past an electronic board showing the closing numbers of Nikkei Stock Average in Tokyo, Japan, on July 9, 2020. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 90.64 points, or 0.40 percent, from Wednesday to close at 22,529.29 on Thursday. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
TOKYO, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday following U.S. shares' overnight advance, with expectations for purchases of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the Bank of Japan adding support, although a record spike in COVID-19 cases in Tokyo capped gains.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 90.64 points, or 0.40 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 22,529.29.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, finished 0.01 point, or 0.00 percent, higher at 1,557.24.
Technology shares got a boost from the get-go, tracking their U.S. peers higher overnight with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index booking its fourth record closing high in five sessions, brokers here said.
A comparatively weak yen versus the U.S. dollar also provided support and helped lift issues broadly exposed to overseas markets, analysts here said.
They added that sentiment was also underpinned by Chinese stocks' solid performance, with the Shanghai Composite Index's rally continuing, helped by China's consumer price index (CPI) rising by 2.5 percent year-on-year in June and factory-gate prices showing an uptick from May, according to official data.
Gains were extended in later trade on hopes for purchases of ETFs by Japan's central bank as part of its continued monetary easing measures to underpin the recession-hit economy, market strategists also said.
"The expanded gains in the afternoon were attributed to growing expectations for the BOJ's ETF buying to support the market after the Topix ended lower in the morning session," Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
Investors opted not to chase the market's upside higher prior to the close following the Tokyo Metropolitan government announcing a record single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in the capital with 224 new infections, compared to the previous high of 206 cases recorded on April 17, brokers said.
Sentiment was also dampened by continued concerns for the global economic recovery from the pandemic, as COVID-19 cases in the United States continued to surge, with a record number of cases reported on Wednesday, investment strategists said.
"Shares' gains were capped by the coronavirus concerns ... the Nikkei is expected to be range-bound in the 22,000 level for a while," Fujito also said.
By the close of play, information and communication, electric appliance, and electric power and gas issues comprised those that gained the most.
Among tech-linked issues finding favor, Sony jumped 3.3 percent, while Yaskawa Electric ended the day 2.0 percent higher.
SoftBank Group Corp., meanwhile, climbed 4.5 percent, helping lift the broader information and communication sector.
Pharmaceutical firm Eisai advanced 4.8 percent, after the company and its partner Biogen Inc. submitted an application seeking approval from U.S. regulators for their Alzheimer's drug.
FamilyMart surged 22.8 percent, after trading house Itochu Corp. announced a tender offer a day earlier to make FamilyMart Co. a wholly owned unit.
Itochu Corp., for its part, ended the day 0.2 percent higher.
Issues that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,496 to 594 on the First Section, while 81 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Thursday, 1.175 billion shares changed hands, rising from Wednesday's volume of 1.155 billion shares.
The turnover on the penultimate trading day of the week came to 2.222 trillion yen (20.706 billion U.S. dollars).
