Japan’s Nikkei surges over 2% as US retail sales data eases recession fears

TOKYO – Japan’s Nikkei share average got off to a strong start in early trade on Friday, tracking Wall Street higher as an increase in US retail sales soothed fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy and top Japanese trading partner.

The Nikkei was up 2.5% at 37,639.99 as of 0009 GMT, while the broader Topix rose 2.3%.

Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Thursday after US retail sales for July increased 1% following a downwardly revised 0.2% drop in June, easing fears of a sharp economic slowdown fanned by a jump in the unemployment rate last week.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index finished up nearly 5% to give Japanese chip-related shares a boost on Friday.

(Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)