TOKYO, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher on Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index closing at its highest level in 29 years, after Wall Street's solid lead overnight coupled with robust earnings reports from domestic firms bolstered investor sentiment.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average climbed 219.95 points, or 0.91 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 24,325.23, marking its highest closing level since Nov. 13, 1991.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 8.55 points, or 0.52 percent, to finish at 1,658.49.
Wall Street and global equities rallied of late, with investors largely shrugging off a prolonged vote counting process in the U.S. presidential election.
"Equity prices are tracking U.S. stocks higher amid a slight euphoria in the market that (Joe) Biden is almost certain to win the presidential election," Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, was quoted as saying.
In terms of buying fundamentals, some market analysts pointed to tech and other companies that have managed to profit from new ways of life brought on by the global novel coronavirus pandemic, such as working and studying from home.
"With the Nikkei advancing more than 5 percent this week, the market was lifted by broad buying in companies that were able to adapt to the new life with the coronavirus and reported robust earnings," Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., said.
Fujito also pointed to an "extreme money glut on a global scale, as central banks in Japan, the United States, Europe and developing countries have lowered their interest rates to an unprecedented level at the same time amid the coronavirus pandemic."
"The money that lost its way for investment has been pushed into stock markets. So the current upbeat prices will end when the central banks move to tighten their monetary policies," he was quoted as saying.
Iron and steel, marine transportation and electric appliance issues comprised those that gained the most by the closing bell.
Toyota Motor added 0.5 percent, after Japan's top automaker announced it had more than doubled its full-year operating profit forecast.
Kobe Steel was another notable winner, surging 11.6 percent, following the firm projecting its net loss would be less than its previous forecast for the current fiscal year to March.
Pharmaceutical firm Eisai added to gains, rising 3.7 percent on expectations that the company and its partner Biogen Inc. will receive the U.S. FDA's approval for their Alzheimer drug.
Issues that rose outpaced those that fell by 1,367 to 714 on the First Section, while 98 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Friday, 1.232.12 million shares changed hands, dropping from Thursday's volume of 1,344.74 million shares.
The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 2.583 trillion yen (25.017 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem
