Japanese shares jump on Wall Street gains, China hopes

Japanese shares jumped on Friday, led by chip-related and other heavyweight stocks, after Wall Street closed higher overnight and as hopes grew that China's easing of its COVID-19 curbs will boost global economic growth.

The Nikkei share average NI225 closed 1.18% higher at 27,901.01, marking its biggest daily gain since Nov. 11. For the week, it rose 0.44%.

The broader Topix TOPIX climbed 1.03% to 1,961.56, rising 0.39% for the week.

U.S. stocks advanced overnight, with the S&P 500 SPX snapping a five-session losing streak, as investors interpreted data showing a rise in weekly jobless claims as a sign the pace of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes could soon slow.

Chip-related Advantest 6857 was the best performer on the Nikkei, with a 5.78% jump. Peer Tokyo Electron 8035 rose 2.93%. Technology investor SoftBank Group 9984 added 1.2% and electronic component maker TDK 6762 climbed 3.43%.

"The Nasdaq's gain overnight boosted sentiment and Japanese shares tracked U.S. technology stocks higher," said Yugo Tsuboi, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Also, market participants have turned optimistic about China following the easing of COVID restrictions, he said.

China on Wednesday announced the most sweeping changes to its resolute anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began three years ago, loosening rules that curbed the spread of the virus but sparked protests and hobbled the world's second-largest economy.

Cosmetic maker Shiseido 4911, one of the stocks likely to benefit from a rebound in China consumer spending, gained 3.24%. It rose more than 6.5% for the week.

Toshiba (6502.T) climbed 4.4% after Reuters reported Japan Industrial Partners, the preferred bidder to buy out the company, had moved closer to securing financing from banks.

The utility sector rose 2.24% to be the best performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings 9501 advanced 5.52% and Kansai Electric Power 9503 rose 2.61%.