TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index ending at a two-month high as the market mood was brightened by U.S. shares advancing late last week following U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks about rate hikes.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 197.87 points, or 0.88 percent, from Friday to close the day at 22,799.64, marking its highest finish since June 15.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, finished 19.75 points, or 1.16 percent, higher at 1,728.95.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying at symposium that the Fed would continue to hike its rates moderately sent two major U.S. bourses to record closing highs late last week, with sentiment passed on to investors here Monday, local brokers said.
They said that market expectations that the Fed would increase rates in September and December were met following Powell's statement and shares were firm throughout the day.
"A strong U.S. economy is good news to Japanese companies as they rely on U.S. demand," Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, was quoted as saying on the matter.
Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., meanwhile, went one further saying, "The combination of a strong U.S. economy and lower U.S. Treasury yields is best for the global stock market."
Analysts on Monday also pointed out that Japanese shares were underpinned by gains on China's Shanghai stock market.
"Japanese shares, which opened higher encouraged by gains on Wall Street Friday, extended gains as China's Shanghai market rose," SBI Securities' representatives said.
By the close of play, nonferrous metal, oil and coal product, and electric machinery-linked issues comprised those that gained the most, and rising issues beat declining ones by 1,767 to 273 on the First Section, with 65 ending the day unchanged.
Among tech and exporter issues, Toyota Motor accelerated 2.0 percent, to 6,966 yen, after the Nikkei business daily said that the automaker plans to build a plant in China with an output capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year.
Honda Motor Co. gained 1.4 percent, while chip-maker Tokyo Electron added 2.0 percent and TDK Corp. jumped 2.7 percent.
Industrial robotics maker Fanuc rose 2.0 percent to 21,825 yen, while Sumco closed up 2.8 percent at 2,014 yen.
On the main section on Monday, 1,045.83 million shares changed hands, rising from Friday's volume of 983.77 million shares.
The turnover on the first trading day of the week came to 1,843.4 billion yen (16.59 billion U.S. dollars).
