Nikkei 225 Rises 0.98% to 64,579.94 as Tech and Financial Stocks Extend Gains

Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed 625.75 points, or 0.98%, to 64,579.94 on Thursday, extending gains from the prior two sessions after touching an intraday high of 64,797.33, following broadly positive cues from Wall Street. Advantest surged more than 7% and Kioxia Holdings jumped over 7%, while banks led financials higher: Mizuho Financial rose more than 2%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial added almost 2% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gained over 1%. SoftBank Group rose more than 1%, Toyota gained almost 1% and Canon added almost 1%. Decliners included Hitachi, plunging almost 8%, NEC, tumbling more than 6%, Renesas Electronics, down more than 4%, and Panasonic, off almost 2%. Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow edged up 0.2% to 52,475.10, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 7,743.98 and the Nasdaq climbed 0.3% to 26,549.85. The U.S. dollar traded in the higher 157 yen range. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.12% to $103.02 a barrel on reports of possible U.S. attacks on Iran by next week.