TOKYO, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks surged on Friday with the benchmark Nikkei index advancing 2.49 percent as the market mood was buoyed on hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump will come through with his planned huge overhaul of business taxes in the U.S.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 471.26 points, or 2.49 percent, from Thursday to finish at at 19,378.93, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 33.01 points, or 2.18 percent, to close at 1,546.56.
Gains were extended towards the end of play in a positive day of buying with the yen's late slide and Trump's remarks in a meeting of airline executives that "phenomenal" tax reforms were on the way imminently contributing to buying.
Trump said that he would roll out plans aimed at reducing the overall tax burden of American businesses and said that within the next month there would be an announcement made that would be "phenomenal" in terms of tax.
"What he wants to do is to create a tax climate that not only keeps jobs here but incentivizes companies to want to come here, to grow here to create jobs here. To bring their profits back here," White House spokesman Sean Spicer was quoted as saying.
Local brokers said that investors were beginning to loose faith in Trump over a barrage of unpopular executive orders and at the currents standoffs with higher courts having only been in office for a couple of weeks.
Masaru Hamasaki, head of market and investment information department at Amundi Japan, said investors were relieved to focus on the positive side of Trump's policies, like tax cuts, after earlier being rattled by his controversial stance on immigration and conflict with U.S. courts on the issue.
"Investors would also be focused on the outcome of talks between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later in the global day, with discussions likely to touch on trade, security and macroeconomic issues including currencies," Hamasaki said.
"Markets are sensitive to anything related to currency and economy. That said, some of us are laid back as we've been hearing that the main purpose of the meeting could be bonding and building a trusted relationship with him," he said.
Other analysts added that the market mood became less circumspect on hopes the tax breaks would lead to new job creation and growing markets in the U.S. and the yen's slide in later trade also supported buying.
Sentiment was underpinned earlier on in the day by the release of China's robust trade data, which added to market faith in the world's second-largest economy and gave China-linked issues here a solid boost, traders said.
China reported better-than-expected trade data for January as demand picked up both at home and abroad, with preliminary data from customs showing on Friday that January exports rose 7.9 percent from a year earlier as global demand increased, while imports expanded 16.7 percent on improved domestic demand for coal, crude oil and iron ore.
China's trade surplus stood at 51.35 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said.
China-linked shares duly advanced, with Kubota gaining 4.2 percent to 1,891 yen, while robotics maker Fanuc rose 4.2 percent to close at 22,750 yen. Komatsu, meanwhile, gained 2 percent to finish at 2,820 yen.
Exporter issues also found favor, with Toyota Motor accelerating 3.1 percent to 6,446 yen, while smaller rival Isuzu Motors rose 3.4 percent to 1,538 yen. Honda Motor, meanwhile, gained 2.9 percent to 3,605 yen.
All sectors closed in positive territory on the final trading day of the week, with tire, warehousing and harbor transportation services and mining issues, among the day's notable advancers.
Trading volume on the main section on Friday totaled 2,066.04 million shares, up from Thursday's volume of 1,933.51 million shares and advancing issues outpaced declining ones by 1,691 to 238, On the First Section.
The day's turnover on Friday was 2,756 billion yen (24.20 billion U.S. dollars).
