A slide in the yen spurred Tokyo's
Nikkei share average 2 percent higher on Friday to above 15,000
for the first time in six months, helping the benchmark post its
best weekly rise in four years.
Gains in financial companies on strong quarterly earnings
also boosted the Nikkei, which rose 289.51 to end at
15,165.92 and was up 7.7 percent for the week.
The break in major chart resistance around 15,000 opened the
way for a return to the May peak at 15,942.60, but the benchmark
was sitting way above the upper band of the Bollinger Bands -- a
bearish signal.
The Nikkei is up 46 percent this year. If the gains were to
hold for the rest of the year, it would mark the index's best
yearly performance since 1972.
Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co Ltd surged 6.6 percent
on Friday after it lifted its net profit guidance for the year
ending March 2014 by 54 percent.
Investors also went after shares of brokerages, with Nomura
Holdings up 4.8 percent.
The broader Topix index closed up 1.7 percent at
1,239.04, with 3.21 billion shares changing hands, hitting a
two-week high.
The yen hit a two-month low of 100.315 yen to the dollar
, driven by a risk-on mode in the global markets and
comments from Finance Minister Taro Aso that Tokyo should retain
currency intervention as a policy tool.
