Roundup: Nikkei jumps 1.98 pct as crude rally continues, eurozone debt fears ease

The Nikkei stock index jumped 1.98 percent Wednesday following a strong lead from Wall Street as crude oil prices continued to increase and hopes for the health of the eurozone improved on news Greece's new government won't seek a debt write-off.

The Nikkei 225 index added 342.89 points to close at 17,678.74, while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues gained 1. 77 percent, or 24.61 points, to finish at 1,417.00.

Markets here got off to a bright start, traders said, following U.S. shares getting a lift from crude's ongoing rally, spurred by a drop in the number of rigs drilling and energy companies reducing their budgets.

Analysts here said that major oil companies had drastically slashed their exploration budgets and spending plans for this year, as a means to deal with the sharp slide in crude prices, which has recently seen oil prices plummet by almost 60 percent since June.

But as the prices have risen recently, worldwide concerns about the glut and the impact on the global economy were eased Wednesday, analysts here maintained.

"The rebound in crude had a calming effect on the market," said Ayako Terada of Nomura Securities Co.'s investment research department.

Coupled with easing concerns about crude, European markets and the euro made gains on hopes that the new Greece government will play ball with its creditors.

Greece's new government have dropped its calls for a debt write- off and has said that it wishes to bring to an end its disputes and standoff with its creditors. New Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has talked of reforming the Greek economy, starting with trading its debt for growth-linked bonds.

"It's speculation at this point, but any signs of progress in those talks will be appreciated by the markets," said Tsutomu Yamada, market analyst at kabu.com Securities Co.

In currency markets, the U.S. dollar rose to 117.74 yen from 117.57 logged in New York and export-realted shares got a boost as their overseas profits are increased when repatriated when the yen is weak versus the U.S. dollar.

As such, Toyota, the world's largest automaker, accelerated 2. 35 percent to 7,728 yen and consumer electronics behemoth Sony climbed 2.65 percent to close at 2,769 yen.

Oil related issues rose as the crude market turned bullish, and exploration giant Inpex advanced 2.6 percent to 1,417 yen and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. gained 2.3 percent to finish at 3, 785 yen.

Other issues moved on individual earnings reports and among financial issues, Mitsubishi UFJ leapt 5.2 percent to 654 yen, following the bank reporting a 36 percent increase in its third- quarter profit.

Medical product and device maker Terumo jumped 6.2 percent to 3, 100 yen, after the firm announced a buyback plan adding up to as much as 3 billion yen of its shares. The news added support following the firm saying Tuesday its nine-month income dropped 9. 4 percent to 33.4 billion yen.

But Panasonic lost 1.98 percent to 1,330 yen, despite saying Tuesday its operating profit increased 10.3 percent to 290.27 billion yen and Sharp fell 4.48 percent to 234 yen, after announcing it had downwardly revised its profit forecast for this year and now predicts a significant loss.

Trading volume on Wednesday dropped to 2.72 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, down from Tuesday's volume of 2.75 billion shares, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones by 1,542 to 250. Endi