Japanese stocks extended gains in the afternoon. U.S. EQUITIES POINTED TO A NEW ALL-TIME INCREASE IN INVESTORS' RISK PREFERENCE, BUT THE INDEX NARROWED DUE TO PROFIT SELL-OFFS. AFTERMARKET INDICATIONS THAT RELATED BUYING DROVE THE MARKET UPWARD AGAIN, WITH THE JPMI CLOSING DOWN 38,647 POINTS ON THE FULL DAY, UP 285 POINTS, OR 0.7%.

Semiconductor stocks generally rose, with Disco and Advamtest up 3.5% and 3.8% respectively, Investment Arm's soft silver rose 3.2%, Ressa Electronics gained 2.7%, Tokyo's Velico & International Motors rose 0.3% and 0.5%, and Lasertec fell 0.8%.

In other popular trading stocks, Toyota rose 1.4 percent, Mitsubishi Heavy gained 0.4 percent, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial fell 0.2 percent.

The US dollar was last up 144.93 against the Japanese yen.