Tokyo stocks surged 3.29% Friday on the back of a firmer dollar, upbeat earnings results and a strong lead from Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 460.39 points at 14,466.16, while the Topix index of all first-section shares gained 2.82%, or 32.78 points, to 1,196.17.
The dollar bought to 99.60 yen in Asian afternoon trade, compared with 99.52 yen late in New York and 98.63 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday.
The euro bought $1.3209 and 131.56 yen against $1.3208 and 131.45 yen in US trade.
The Nikkei will likely continue to advance as uncertainties surrounding global economies have waned and expectations for better earnings for Japanese exporters mount on the back of a stronger dollar.
Big-hitters SoftBank and Sharp also helped drive the index higher after impressing with their first-quarter earnings released earlier this week.
SoftBank’s net profit more than doubled for the three months to June, while Sharp managed to reduce its loss in the same period thanks to the weaker yen and cost-cutting.
