( Reuters ) - Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.4 percent on Thursday to add to large gains in the previous session, with property shares such as Sumitomo Realty & Development bought after strong land price data.
Chip gear suppliers Advantest Corp and Tokyo Electron Ltd were sold heavily after data indicating a weak outlook for chip making equipment orders.
"The move in the Tokyo market tracks the rise in Wall Street. I think the Nikkei average is almost hitting the day's expected upward limit, which I think is 16,500," said Zenshiro Mizuno, senior managing director at Marusan Securities.
He said trading companies such as Mitsui & Co Ltd were likely to be bought, adding that shares of trading houses had been undervalued and a recent surge in oil prices and other natural resources had prompted buying.
As of 8:46 p.m. EDT, the benchmark Nikkei was up 71.73 points at 16,453.27. The broader TOPIX index climbed 0.3 percent to 1,572.20.
Sumitomo Realty & Development climbed 1.4 percent to 3,600 yen and Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd rose 1.1 percent to 2,845 yen.
A government report issued on Wednesday showed Japan's average commercial land prices rose in the year to July 1 for the first time in 16 years, led by office demand in the three biggest cities.
Marusan's Mizuno said overseas investors were snatching up property shares, but were mostly buying back shares that had been oversold. "It is not that the land price data has attracted new buyers to property stocks," he said.
An industry group said on Wednesday that orders for Japanese equipment used to make microchips fell short of sales in August on slower demand from DRAM makers and weaker-than-expected demand for Intel Corp's logic chips.
Advantest fell 4.1 percent to 3,710 yen and Tokyo Electron shed 2.2 percent to 7,550 yen.