Japanese shares jumped Thursday morning, led by technology stocks, as sentiment was buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street and in European markets, dpa reported. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 65.66 points, or 0.75 per cent, to trade at 8,792.4 at the end of the morning session at 11:30 am (0230 GMT). The broader-based Topix index was up 6.74 point, or 0.91 per cent, at 747.2. Shares in Renesas Electronics Corp surged 10.74 per cent, Advantest Corp jumped 5.4 per cent, Hitachi Ltd rose 2.42 per cent, Fujitsu Ltd gained 2.03 per cent and Fanuc Corp, a factory robotics producer, was up 1.67 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.81 per cent Wednesday as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke hinted again at possible measures to boost the economy in his second day of testimony to Congress. On currency markets at 11:30 am in Tokyo, the dollar traded at 78.56-60 yen, down from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 79.04-05 yen. The euro was quoted at 1.2291-2294 dollars, up from 1.2280-2282 dollars late Wednesday, and at 96.58-62 yen, down from 97.06-10 yen.
