Nikkei up 0.26 pc, energy stocks advance

Tokyo, Sept 28: The Nikkei average ended Thursday morning 0.26 percent higher, after briefly topping the 16,000 level, as investors encouraged by gains on Wall Street picked up blue-chip shares such as Canon Inc and Honda Motor Co.

Higher oil prices helped shares of energy and trading firms advance, while buyers were lured to shares of property and consumer finance firms, which had been seen as laggards.

But recent gains in the market also encouraged investors to lock in profits in such stocks as Advantest Corp.

The Nikkei finished the morning session 41.24 points higher at 15,989.11. It earlier climbed as high as 16,032.98, breaking above the 16,000 level for the first time since Sept 19.

The benchmark logged a 2.5 percent rise on Wednesday, its biggest one-day gain in two months.

The broader TOPIX index rose 0.53 percent to 1,599.51.

REUTERS