TOKYO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Thursday, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index hitting its highest intraday level since August 1990, as Democrats winning the U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia state lifted hopes for more U.S. stimulus.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 434.19 points, or 1.60 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 27,490.13.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, rose 30.12 points, or 1.68 percent, to finish at 1,826.30.
Trading got off to a bright start, local brokers said, as investor sentiment was bolstered early on by reports stating that Democrats won two Senate runoff elections in Georgia.
In doing so, control of the Senate has been handed to the Democrats meaning their agenda of further stimulus to underpin the pandemic-hit economy as well as infrastructure spending, which is hoped to be swiftly approved to help speed up the recovery of the world's largest economy, market analysts said.
"Shares advanced on the back of receding political risks and U.S. stimulus hopes," Toshikazu Horiuchi, equity strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
For the first time in five trading days, the Nikkei leapt more than 2 percent to 27,624.73, marking its highest intraday level since Aug. 16, 1990.
"The market today tilted to the positive side on the view that a Democrat-controlled Congress would make the passage of (President-elect Joe) Biden's larger stimulus package much easier," Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at the NLI Research Institute, was quoted as saying.
Concerns about a new record of COVID-19 cases in Tokyo hit sentiment in later trade. In addition, daily COVID-19 cases nationwide in Japan topped the 7,000-mark for the first time Wednesday.
"If the cases continue to rise, concerns would grow about more restrictions on people's movements hitting the domestic economy," Ide said.
By the close of play, iron and steel, nonferrous metal and insurance-linked issues comprised those that gained the most.
Finance and insurance issues followed their U.S. peers higher after a rise in U.S. bond yields, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group jumping 5.5 percent, while Dai-ichi Life Holdings and T&D Holdings climbed 7.4 and 6.7 percent respectively.
Steelmakers gained traction amid hopes for new stimulus and infrastructure projects in the United States, with Nippon Steel leaping 7.8 percent, while JFE Holdings closed the day 7.8 percent higher.
Issues that rose outpaced those that fell by 1,664 to 445 on the First Section, while 77 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Thursday, 1,513.72 million shares changed hands, rising from Wednesday's volume of 1,179.58 million shares.
The turnover on the penultimate trading day of the week came to 2,999.011 billion yen (28.93 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem
