Tokyo, Jan 15, 2016 (AFP) -Tokyo shares rose Friday morning, rebounding from a huge loss the previous day and tracking a strong rally on Wall Street.
The Japanese market led the region higher, after a global rout over the past week driven by slumping oil prices as well as worries about a growth slowdown in China, and Beijing's bungled handling of the crisis.
"The recent fall in stocks was a result of lack of clarity over when the US will raise rates, China's ad hoc approach to policy, and receding expectations of more easing from the Bank of Japan," Juichi Wako, a senior Nomura strategist, told Bloomberg News.
"The master key that ties all these elements together is oil. If the decline in oil prices stops, it'll be easier for oversold stocks to rebound."
The Nikkei 225 index was up 0.73 percent, or 126.27 points, at 17,367.22 by the break, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.75 percent, or 10.48 points, to 1,417.03.
That came after Wall Street's surge that saw the Dow rise 1.41 percent, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.67 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.97 percent.
Sharp's volatile stock soared 18.35 percent to 129 yen after the top-selling Yomiuri newspaper said Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision may boost its bid for the embattled smartphone-screen maker by 40 percent to 700 billion yen.
In other trading, market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo chain, edged up 0.13 percent to 37,690 yen, while China-linked Factory robotics firm Fanuc rose 0.61 percent to 18,830 yen.
Nissan fell 0.84 percent to 1,118 yen after its partner Renault's diesel cars failed government-ordered pollution tests and investigators raided its facilities Thursday.
That has raised fears the French carmaker could be caught up in an emissions scandal.
Officials said however no pollution cheating software was found on Renault cars, as Germany's Volkswagen admitted in September having installed on 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, sparking a scandal that could cost it tens of billions of dollars.
On currency markets, the dollar edged down to 117.88 yen from 118.06 yen in New York.
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