Nikkei tops 17,000 on futures rally, weak yen helps

TOKYO, Mar 8 (Reuters) The Nikkei average rose 1.94 percent to top 17,000 on Thursday, spurred by a rally in the futures market where investors bought back the March contract ahead of its Friday settlement, while a weaker yen lifted shares of exporters such as Kyocera Corp.

Nippon Oil Corp. and other oil shares advanced after crude oil prices surged nearly 2 percent on Wednesday on surprise declines in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories, making the oil and coal products sector IPETE.one of the best performers among the TOPIX's 33 industry sub-indexes Brokers such as Nomura Holdings Inc. climbed, helped by a rebound in the Nikkei beyond the psychologically important 17,000 line that it had breached on Monday amid a sell-off in global stocks.

The Nikkei added 325.69 points to 17,090.31, the highest close since March 2. It was the biggest one-day percentage gain since last October.

The broader TOPIX index rose 1.86 percent to 1,720.96.

REUTERS CS DS1552