Tokyo, March 17 -- Tokyo stocks continued its upward trend on Monday as buying momentum carried over from the U.S. stock rally last week, with semiconductor-related stocks rebounding sharply.
The benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, closed at 37,396.52, up 343.42 points, or 0.93 percent from the previous day.
Intermittent buying in stock index futures, likely by overseas speculators, pushed the index's gains above 500 points at one point.
Robust semiconductor performance in the U.S. market led to strong buying of Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and SoftBank Group. Defense-related stocks, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, also surged with active trading.
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