TOKYO, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks finished higher on Thursday as the uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy eased after the Federal Reserve decided to scale back a massive bond-buying program as widely expected.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average finished 273.47 points, or 0.93 percent, higher from Tuesday at 29,794.37. Japanese financial markets were closed on Wednesday for a national holiday.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended 23.89 points, or 1.18 percent, higher at 2,055.56.
Trading volume on the main section increased to 1,482.77 million shares from Tuesday's 1,183.56 million shares.
Tokyo stocks opened high in the morning and stayed in positive territory throughout the day. The U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen was steady in the lower 114 yen range.
The U.S. Fed decided on Wednesday to unwind its massive bond-buying program later this month amid the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated no immediate rate hikes at a press conference after a two-day policy meeting.
The Fed's stance eased worries that early U.S. rate hikes could trigger an outflow of funds from emerging markets and slow global economic growth, benefiting the stock markets, brokers said.
After uncertainty over the Fed's monetary policy faded, investors turned their attention to earnings of domestic firms in Japan and U.S. jobs data for October.
Masahiro Ichikawa, the chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., said, "As the timing of a rate hike will depend on the pace of employment recovery, U.S. jobs data will draw increased attention from now on." Nonfarm payroll data for October is set to be released Friday.
By the close of play, textile and apparel, machinery, and electric appliance shares headed the increase. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones 1,571 to 551 on the First Section, while 61 finished unchanged.
Due to a weaker yen, Toyota Motor Corp., the world's top-selling automaker, on Thursday raised its net profit outlook for the business year to next March to 2.49 trillion yen (22 billion U.S. dollars), despite output trimmed amid a parts shortage. Its stock price ended up 0.7 percent accordingly.
Nippon Steel and Fujifilm Holdings after lifting annual profit forecast also gained 1.7 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.
High-tech firms tracked advances on their U.S. counterparts, with semiconductor maker Screen Holdings surging 4.4 percent and Apple Inc. supplier Alps Alpine jumping 4.3 percent. Enditem
