Nikkei closes above 29 points for the first time in seven months

Japan’s Nikkei closed above 29,000 on Wednesday for the first time in more than seven months, after Wall Street’s main indexes rose overnight, driven by solid profits from US retailers.

The Nikkei rose 1.23 percent to 29,222.77 points, closing at its highest level since Jan. 5. The broader Topix index also rose 1.26 percent to 2006.99 points.

The share of Fast Retailing, which owns clothing stores Uniqlo, rose 2.8 percent to constitute the biggest boost to the Nikkei index, followed by the rise of Daikin Industries, the air-conditioning maker, by 2.02 percent, and then the share of the telecommunications company (KDDI) 1.43 percent.

Among the technology companies that accounted for the biggest losses, Trend Micro, the cybersecurity services provider, whose shares lost 2.08 percent, which constituted the largest loss for the Nikkei index. Robotics maker Fanuc fell 0.89 percent.