TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Stocks staged an impressive rally on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday following solid gains in overseas markets, with the benchmark Nikkei average scoring the sixth-largest single-day gain of more than 1,300 points.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shot up 1,343.43 points, or 7.71 percent, to end at 18,770.51. On Tuesday, the key market gauge lost 433.39 points, wiping out all the gains made so far this year.
The Nikkei’s point gain was the biggest since Jan. 31, 1994, on a daily basis. In terms of percentage, the rise was the ninth-biggest ever.
The TOPIX index of all First-Section issues jumped 90.66 points, or 6.4 percent, to 1,507.37, after falling 28.94 points the previous day.
Tokyo stocks attracted hefty buying from the outset of Wednesday’s trading, inspired by overnight strength in European and U.S. markets. The Tokyo market accelerated its upswing toward the close thanks to a wave of buybacks in undervalued stocks.
The yen’s weakness and solid movements of Chinese stocks on Wednesday gave an additional lift to the Tokyo market, brokers said.
Investor sentiment improved on the back of growing hopes for Chinese government measures to stimulate the world’s second-largest economy, which has shown signs of losing steam, brokers said.
The Tokyo market was driven up by a surge of buybacks after the recent sell-offs, said Kenichi Hirano, market analyst at K Asset Co.
The Nikkei average plummeted nearly 3,500 points, or more than 16 percent, from the recent high marked in late June through Tuesday.
