Shares rose for the fourth consecutive trading session as investors who recently sold off Japanese technology stocks turned into bargain hunters following Microsoft Corp's higher-than-expected sales forecasts for its cloud computing services. "We're in the age of big data and artificial intelligence, and both require semiconductors," said Kiyoshi Ishigane, chief fund manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co in Tokyo.

There were 166 advancers on the Nikkei index against 51 decliners on Thursday. The information and technology sector was the biggest gainer, rising 0.25%. Chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron Ltd rose 2.18%, while electronic devices maker Kyocera Corp gained 1.13%. The largest percentage gainers in the index were pharmaceutical company Eisai Co Ltd up 15.3%, followed by parcel delivery firm Yamato Holdings Co Ltd gaining 4.06%, and Hino Motors Ltd up by 3.75%. Eisai's shares have gained rapidly since it agreed with its US partner Biogen Inc on Tuesday to revive plans to seek US approval for an Alzheimer's treatment.

Softbank's shares hit their lowest since January 30 on Thursday on continued worries that its finances will weaken due to its bailout of office-space sharing startup WeWork. The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 1.2 billion, compared with the average of 1.24 billion in the past 30 days.

Copyright Reuters, 2019