TOKYO, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index extended gains for a sixth-straight day on Thursday to end at a fresh 20-month high, as chip-linked issue found favor, while trade data buoyed the mood and helped lift exporters.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 480.34 points, or 1.60 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 30,573.93, marking its highest closing level since Sept. 14, 2021.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, added 24.24 points, or 1.14 percent, to finish at 2,157.85, booking its highest finish since August 1990.

Local brokers said that sentiment was lifted by gains made overnight on Wall Street on eased concerns over the U.S. debt ceiling issue, with a weaker yen versus its U.S. counterpart and domestic trade figures meeting market expectations, giving exporters a boost.

They said that fears of an unprecedented default might be avoided if negotiations towards lifting the U.S. debt ceiling continue in the right direction, with an agreement expected by around Sunday.

"The U.S. stock market rallied on expectations that an agreement on the debt ceiling issue will be reached by around Sunday," Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., was quoted as saying.

"The Nikkei could continue upward to hit its highest level in 33 years as early as tomorrow depending on whether U.S. shares rise tonight," said Miura.

Market analysts here said that along with a comparatively weak yen versus the U.S. dollar, trade data for April released by the Finance Ministry Thursday morning, despite showing that exports had slowed from a month earlier, was viewed as being generally good.

"Although exports have slowed from the previous month, this result was still relatively good compared to other Northeast Asian countries. The April trade results further support our view that the Japanese economy will stay on a recovery path," analysts at ING were quoted as saying in a client note.

Among export-oriented issues gaining traction, Sony Group jumped 6.4 percent, after announcing Thursday it may spin off its financial unit in the years ahead, having said a day earlier it would launch a stock buyback plan.

Semiconductor-linked shares followed their U.S. peers higher overnight, with Nikkei heavyweights chipmaking-equipment maker Tokyo Electron and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest climbing 5.5 and 8 percent, respectively.

Utility-oriented shares bucked the upward trend, however, following the Japanese government's announcement earlier in the week that electricity prices would be raised.

As a result, Kansai Electric Power dropped 2.8 percent, while Tokyo Electric Power slumped 4.7 percent.

By the close of play, electricity and gas, precision instrument, and machinery-linked issues comprised those that gained the most.

The turnover on the prime market on the penultimate trading day of the week came to 3,800.71 billion yen (27.59 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem

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