TOKYO: Tokyo stocks surged 3.29 percent 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 percent, or 32.78 points, to 1,196.17.
Investor sentiment brightened as the dollar inched up against the yen as it makes Japanese exporters more competitive overseas and tends to lift their shares.
The US currency bought to 99.62 yen in afternoon trade, compared with 99.52 yen late in New York and 98.63 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday.
Buying sentiment was also supported after a rally on Wall Street fuelled by strong manufacturing data from China, Europe and the United States saw the S&P 500 end 1.25 percent up at an all-time closing high. The Dow added 0.83 percent.
"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," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities.
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.
SoftBank jumped 3.44 percent to 6,900 yen and Sharp leapt 3.40 percent to 425 yen.
Sony, which swung to a net profit in April-June, rose 0.90 percent to 2,123 yen after giving up part of its earlier gains on profit-taking.
Toyota, which announced after markets closed a near doubling in quarterly profit and said it was on track to produce more than 10 million vehicles this year, soared 3.37 percent to 6,430 yen.
Currencies and the US economic outlook will continue to drive the market, analysts said.
But Naoki Fujiwara, fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management, said the impact of Japanese earnings on the broader market may be limited as strong results from some firms were offset by lacklustre figures among others.
"My impression on the overall earnings is neutral as the results are mixed," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Currencies and US economic data will likely continue to act as catalysts in the absence of other drivers near-term," he added. (AFP)
