Nikkei surges over 2 pct

Nikkei rose over 2 per cent on Thursday after Spain outlined measures to cut its deficit.

Japan’s Nikkei average rose over 2 per cent on Thursday after Spain outlined measures to cut its deficit,easing fears the Greek debt crisis could spread in Europe and boosting exporters such as Advantest.

Shares of companies with upbeat earnings and outlooks found favour as well,with information services company CSK Holdings surging more than 14 per cent after it forecast a jump in profit this financial year.

Concerns that Greece’s debt crisis could spill over to other euro-zone nations with high borrowings eased on Wednesday as Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Madrid would slash civil service pay by 5 per cent this year,freeze it in 2011 and cut 13,000 public sector jobs.

The news sent European and US stocks higher.

“The euro zone problems had really weighed on the market,and reassurance after the Spanish announcement has allowed investors to turn their eyes to things like earnings and economic indicators for the first time in days,” said Toshiyuki Kanayama,a market analyst at Monex Inc.

“That said,we can’t know yet if these measures will work,and some continuing concern is still shifting funds into gold,sending it to quite high levels.”

The benchmark Nikkei was up 2.2 per cent or 232.36 points to 10,626.76 and looked headed for its highest close in a week. The broader Topix added 1.7 per cent to 948.51.

Shares of Tokyo Electron jumped 6.5 per cent to 6,050 yen after the chip equipment maker forecast it would swing to profitability in the year to March 2011,citing an expected increase in capital investment by semiconductor makers.

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Tokyo Electron expects to book an operating profit of 79 billion yen for the year,compared with an operating loss of 2.2 billion yen the year before.

Nissan Motor Co slipped 0.8 per cent to 739 yen after Japan’s No.3 automaker said it expects growth in emerging markets and launches of new models such as its Micra compact to provide only a modest boost to profits this year.

Nissan forecast an annual operating profit of 350 billion yen,up 12 per cent from last year but lagging a consensus forecast of 411 billion yen.