TOKYO: Japanese shares closed at a near 30-year high on Wednesday, as Britain's Covid-19 vaccine rollout and seeming progress over a US stimulus deal boosted hopes of a swift global economic recovery, while upbeat domestic machinery data also buoyed sentiment. The benchmark Nikkei share average rose 1.33% to 26,817.94, its highest closing since April 17, 1991. The broader Topix rose 1.17% to 1,779.42.

SoftBank Group Corp shares did most of the uplifting in the afternoon trade, jumping as much as 7% on a Bloomberg News report that the conglomerate was considering buying back shares to boost Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son's stake.

Machinery companies Komatsu, SMC Corp and Fanuc Corp climbed between 2.27% and 2.98%. Other sectors on the main bourse followed suit, with Paper and pulp and textiles rose 2.43% and 1.56%, respectively. Semiconductors tracked their US peers higher. Advantest Corp rose nearly 1.3%, while SUMCO spiked 5.41%

Tokyo Dome Corp slipped 4.4%, after property developer Mitsui Fudosan said Oasis Management was willing to tender shares of the ballpark operator to it. The Mothers Index of start-up firm shares bucked the overall trend to decline 1.39%.