Japanese shares rose Wednesday as investors took heart from an overnight rally on Wall Street and a further drop in oil prices.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 127.97 points, or 0.97 percent, to close at 13,312.93.
"Sentiment turned positive in line with gains in the U.S. market yesterday," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd. Investors bought banking stocks on easing worries over the U.S. financial sector, he said, and the lower oil prices helped boost sentiment.
A softer yen also pushed gains in export-linked stocks, Miura said. A weak yen makes Japanese goods price competitive abroad and boosts the value of repatriated profits by local exporters.
Banking giant Mizuho Financial Group Inc. jumped 4.29 percent to 583,000 yen. Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's largest securities business group, rose 2.59 percent to 1,626 yen.
Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co., which sells products under its Panasonic brand, rose 2.76 percent to 2,235 yen. Electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. added 1.70 percent to 779 yen; Sony Corp. was unchanged at 4,380 yen.
Japan's top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., edged down 0.81 percent to 4,870 yen.
The Topix index of all Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues rose 1.21 percent to 1,303.35.
In currencies, the dollar stood at 107.26 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, little changed from overnight in New York but up from 106.50 yen in Asian trading hours Tuesday. The euro stood at US$1.5786, compared with US$1.5784 in New York.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery was trading below US$127 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by late afternoon in Singapore. That was more then US$20 off a trading record hit above US$147 a barrel earlier in the month.
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