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| - Tokyo stocks closed more than two percent higher on Thursday, boosted by record-setting advances on Wall Street on strong US economic data and hopes over containing the deadly new coronavirus. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rallied 2.38 percent, or 554.03 points, to 23,873.59 for the third straight day of gains. The broader Topix index gained 2.07 percent, or 35.15 points, to 1,736.98. On Wall Street on Wednesday, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged to fresh records following strong US jobs data. Markets also continued to bet the new coronavirus will not significantly crimp global growth as a global race to develop a vaccine accelerates. There is confidence among investors that "US stocks can't go down", said Makoto Noji, senior strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities. The confidence stems from hopes for pump-priming measures by China's government and rising public support for Donald Trump's re-election, he said. But Noji does not expect the rally will continue for long. "The virus has not spread in the United States, so it has not directly triggered drops in US stocks," he said. But "it is considered inevitable that there will be an indirect negative effect from lower foreign demand and lower investment in the petroleum industry due to falls in oil prices," Noji said. "It will be felt in the US economy in weeks or months," he warned in a commentary. Seiichi Suzuki, senior market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said the day's rally was simply thanks to buy-backs. "Those who had sold shares scurried to buy them back," he said as the yen remained low and China announced it would halve punitive tariffs on $75 billion in US imports from February 14. But "there is no valid reason for this kind of sharp rally to continue", Suzuki told AFP. "There is no knowing what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." The dollar inched up to 109.93 yen from 109.86 yen in New York Wednesday afternoon. In individual stocks trade, exporters were broadly higher. Toyota closed up 2.57 percent at 7,914 yen after upgrading its full-year guidance thanks to a weaker yen, solid sales and cost-cutting efforts. Canon gained 2.67 percent to 2,952.5 yen while Sony was up 2.42 percent to 7,845 yen. mis/ric/qan
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