Tokyo stocks rebounded Thursday led by technology issues as investors were cheered by Wall Street's overnight rally. The U.S. dollar was lower against the yen but up versus the euro.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues rose 103.07 points, or 0.89 percent, to close at 11,668.95 points. The index fell 33.94 points, or 0.29 percent, Wednesday.
The dollar was trading at 106.96 yen at 5 p.m. (0800 GMT), down 0.31 yen from late Wednesday in Tokyo and also below the 107.51 yen it bought in New York later that day. The dollar traded between 106.89 yen and 107.58 yen in Tokyo.
Technology blue chips led the way on the stock market, lifting other select shares related to domestic economy higher.
"Technology stocks have priced in the bad news and are becoming comparatively attractive," said Chisato Haganuma, chief strategist at Nomura Securities' Financial & Economic Research Center.
Semiconductor testing device maker Advantest Corp. added 1.4 percent and Pioneer Corp. added 1.7 percent. Steelmakers Nippon Steel Corp. rose 3.0 percent and JFE Holdings Inc. gained 3.3 percent.
Among other gainers were chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron Co., Sony Corp. and Canon Inc. Banks Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. also rose.
The broader TOPIX, which includes all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, added 13.07 points, or 1.12 percent, to finish Thursday's trading at 1,182.18 points. the TOPIX shed 6.51 points, or 0.55 percent, the day before.
First-section volume fell to 1.255 billion shares, from Wednesday's 1.604 billion shares. Advancers beat decliners 1,455 to 150, while 43 issues were unchanged.
Many investors later stepped off to the sidelines ahead of the release Friday of Japanese central bank's business sentiment report and U.S. employment data.
In New York, U.S. stocks ended higher Wednesday on modest growth in the fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product -- an annual rate of 3.8 percent -- and a drop in oil prices. After the U.S. Energy Department reported a 5.4 million barrel increase to the nation's crude oil reserves, light, sweet crude futures fell to US$53.99 per barrel, down 24 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currency trading, the dollar fell against the yen in Asia Thursday, as traders unwound long positions to take profits on growing expectations that the U.S. unit may not gain much after Friday's release of Japanese and U.S. economic data.
Some Japanese investors also sold the American currency to repatriate proceeds from their U.S. bond sales at the end of Japan's current fiscal year, traders said.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased by 225,000 in March, after the economy created 262,000 new jobs in the previous month. Economists believe that the Bank of Japan's quarterly "tankan" business sentiment survey is expected to show that corporate sentiment has not changed much in the last three months, suggesting that Japan's economic recovery has yet to regain momentum.
The euro fell to US$1.2965 from US$1.2966 late Wednesday and to 138.63 yen from 139.10 yen.