Japan's Nikkei rises on renewed bets on robot makers

By Junko Fujita

TOKYO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average extended gains on Thursday, with robot makers leading the charge on renewed bets of growth in robotics platforms.

The Nikkei .N225 climbed 1.2% to 50,448.83 by 0120 GMT, taking its year-to-date gains to about 26.5%. The broader Topix .TOPX was up 1.2% at 3,374.23.

Robot maker Fanuc 6954.T rose 8%, leading the gains on the Nikkei. It has surged more than 13% this week after the company announced a partnership with U.S. chip giant Nvidia NVDA.O for the development of industrial robots.

"The market focus has shifted to robotics-related shares from chip-related. This means investors keep looking for new themes," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Fanuc's peer Yaskawa Electric 6506.T jumped 9% to become the top percentage gainer on the Nikkei, while Nabtesco 6268.T jumped 10.35% to become the top percentage gainer on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's (TSE) prime market. Technology investor SoftBank Group 9984.T rose 5.6%.

Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T fell 2.23%.

"The market is not rising in a broad-based rally these days, but if investors sell some shares, they buy others, which means the money is rotating," Shimada said.

Banks rebounded from the previous session's declines, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T up 0.95% and 0.91%, respectively.

Drug maker Sumitomo Pharma 4506.T fell 3.38% to become the biggest percentage loser on the Nikkei. Fibre optic cable maker Furukawa Electric 5801.T slipped 2.8%.

Of the more than 1,600 stocks trading on the TSE's prime market, 75% rose, 21% fell, and 3% traded flat.