URGENT: Nikkei extends gains in early afternoon, up over 2%

Economy

Tokyo stocks continued to rise in early afternoon trading on Tuesday, with the benchmark Nikkei briefly soaring over 2 percent, as positive momentum was inherited from Wall Street on growing optimism about a pause in U.S. interest rate hikes.

At 12:49 p.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average rose 664.53 points, or 2.05 percent, from Monday to 33,098.53.

The benchmark index crossed the 33,000 mark for the first time since July 1990.

Kyodo News

Kyodo News