Japan's Nikkei closes higher, gains capped ahead of U.S. jobs data

TOKYO, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed higher Thursday as technology issues advanced, but investors refrained from bold moves ahead of U.S. jobs data to be released Friday.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 190.30 points, or 0.69 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 27,932.20.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, shed 0.04 point to finish at 1,930.73.

Brokers here said that technology issues found favor following the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index climbing 2.65 percent overnight and the U.S. dollar's rise against the yen.

They added, however, that overall gains were capped by some profit-taking, but mainly by market participants not trading aggressively ahead of U.S. jobs data due out Friday, amid continued concerns over the health of the U.S. economy.

"But gains were capped as investors awaited the U.S. jobs data due out Friday. Market participants want to assess wage growth to get hints about inflation," Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., was quoted as saying.

By the close of play, marine transportation, nonferrous metal and pharmaceutical issues comprised those that gained the most, and issues that rose outpaced those that fell by 1,012 to 739, while 87 ended the day unchanged.

Among technology issues finding favor, TDK advanced 2.3 percent, while Screen Holdings jumped 2.4 percent.

Sumitomo Electric Industries soared 6 percent and Nikkei heavyweight Tokyo Electron ended 3.1 percent higher.

Among exporters gaining on the U.S. dollar rising against the yen, Yamaha Motor rose 1.2 percent, while Subaru was a notable winner accelerating 8.5 percent after reporting solid profits.

Z Holdings Corp., operator of Yahoo Japan and Line, weighed on the market however, plunging 11 percent after releasing disappointing earnings.

Toyota reversed 3.0 percent, after announcing a revised earnings outlook for the year to March that missed market expectations.

On the Prime Market on Thursday, 1,295.40 million shares changed hands, rising from Wednesday's volume of 1,176.60 million shares.

The turnover on the penultimate trading day of the week came to 2,899.43 billion yen (21.61 billion U.S. dollars).