TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Nikkei index jumped 2 percent to close above the psychologically important 10,000 mark Thursday for the first time in five months, powered by sharp gains in financial shares and the yen's retreat, which prompted market players to pile into laggard Japanese shares. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 201.97 points, or 2.06 percent, from Wednesday to 10,013.63, the highest closing since June 22, when it finished at 10,112.89. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 18.51 points, or 2.18 percent, to 868.81. All 33 sectors on the TSE rose, with the top three gainers dominated by financials. The securities sector was the biggest winner with a nearly 5 percent rise, followed by the insurance and banking sectors. The robust performance of financial shares, especially Japanese megabanks, brightened sentiment at a time when a softer yen prompted inflows of money into the Tokyo market where exporter shares play a big part, brokers said. Export-linked shares gained, as the euro rose against the yen, while China-related shares were higher after Shanghai shares traded in positive territory following a sharp sell-off earlier this week. "Bank shares, which have been sold due to worries about capital raising, were robust today, and we are seeing good inflows of money (into the stock market)," said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Inc. "Corrective moves are continuing after Japanese shares were left behind (among global peers). Corporate earnings were good but that hasn't been reflected in shares because the recent strength of the yen was a drag," Hiroki added. After the Nikkei cleared technical resistance around 9,920, a level that it failed to cross Tuesday when it climbed above 9,900, the upward momentum accelerated. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the most traded stock in value terms, surged 17 yen, or 4.3 percent, to 412 yen, and volume leader Mizuho Financial Group jumped 5 yen, or some 4 percent, to 134 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 87 yen, or 3.4 percent, to 2,652 yen, and Resona Holdings ended the day up 42 yen, or some 9.2 percent, at 500 yen. Amid concern about debt problems in Europe, and China's monetary tightening, a recent rally in other global markets trigged by the expectation of the Federal Reserve's monetary easing, and reinforced by the announcement earlier this month, has shown signs of taking a breather. But investors are now buying still undervalued Japanese shares as worries about a further appreciation of the yen toward a postwar high continued to ease, brokers said. The dollar was trading in the lower 83 yen range when the Tokyo market closed compared with the 15-and-a-half-year low of 80.21 yen hit in early November. The euro rose above the 113 yen line. "There has been criticism of the Fed's QE2 (quantitative easing)...and questions (in financial markets) about it on the view that (U.S.) macroeconomic conditions may not be so bad," said Tsuyoshi Segawa, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities Co. "Japanese shares are recovering in the process of the dollar being bought back. Although that's the case now, looking at the CPI (consumer price index), we can understand (the Fed's) concern about deflation, and the need to keep stimulating the economy through quantitative easing," Segawa added. U.S. shares ended mixed overnight following a smaller-than-expected rise in the CPI, and disappointing housing data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday down some 0.1 percent. On the First Section, nearly 92 percent of shares gained. Advancers outnumbered decliners 1,519 to 73, with 65 others remaining unchanged. Sony rose 63 yen, or 2.2 percent, to 2,945 yen, and Olympus jumped 64 yen, or 2.9 percent, to 2,313 yen. Canon, one of the major euro-sensitive shares, gained 50 yen, or 1.3 percent, to 4,015 yen. Shares of automakers, which were lackluster earlier in the day, reversed course to end the day higher. Mitsubishi Electric shined after The Nikkei business daily reported Thursday that the company is hoping to boost its consolidated sales to 4 trillion yen by early fiscal 2013, quoting its president. Mitsubishi Electric shares were up 32 yen, or some 4 percent, to 830 yen. Trading volume on the main section rose to 2,440.27 million shares from Wednesday's 1,541.12 million. The TSE's Second Section index gained 12.91 points, or 0.64 percent, to 2,035.32 on a volume of 17.51 million shares. On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term December Nikkei 225 index futures contract climbed 150 points to 9,980, after recovering 10,000.

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