Tokyo stocks close sharply higher as Dow hits record high overnight

Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Thursday as the market mood was lifted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting the 20,000 threshold overnight for the first time on hopes for U.S. economic growth.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 344.89 points, or 1.81 percent, from Wednesday at 19,402.39, marking its highest close since Jan. 6.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 23.43 points, or 1.54 percent, to close at 1,545.01.

With the exception of mining, all industry categories closed in positive territory, with securities, insurance and bank issues among the day's notable advancers.

Advancing issues outpaced declining ones by 1,599 to 309 on the First Section and trading volume on the main section totaled 2,300.00 million shares, up from Wednesday's volume of 1,934.34 million shares.

The total turnover was 2,742 billion yen (24.20 billion U.S. dollars).

source: Xinhua