Japan: Stocks up on vaccine hopes

Japan share market finished session marginal higher on Wednesday, 02 December 2020, driven by coronavirus vaccine hopes, revived stimulus talks in the US Congress, and positive U.S. and Chinese economic indicators. However, market's topside was capped due to profit-taking by speculators near the psychological threshold of Nikkei 27,000 near the psychological threshold of 27,000.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 13.44 points, or 0.05%, to 26,800.98. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange grew 5.59 points, or 0.32%, to 1,773.97.

Cyclicals such as real estate and materials issues jumped on continued high hopes for economic recovery after the coronavirus crisis. Automakers also attracted buying, with Honda rising 5.09% and Hino gaining 2.15%. Other major winners included optical equipment-maker Olympus and semiconductor test device-maker Advantest. On the other hand, Recruit Holdings continued to slide after media reports on share sales by shareholders in international markets, dropping 4.75%. Major Nikkei components such as Fast Retailing, SoftBank Group and M3 also lost ground.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 104.57 per dollar, off levels below 104.1 against the greenback seen earlier in the trading week.

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