TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 1.32 percent Thursday as the dollar broke back above 100 yen after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke assured lawmakers the bank's stimulus scheme would stay in place for some time.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 193.46 points at 14,808.50, while the Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.72 percent, or 8.77 points, to 1,222.01.
Bernanke told lawmakers Wednesday the Fed had no firm timetable for cutting back on its $85 billion-a-month bond purchases and that it would consider reducing them only if the economy continues to improve.
"I emphasise that, because our asset purchases depend on economic and financial developments, they are by no means on a preset course," he said.
SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi said: "Bernanke's words were nothing new, but did have a calming effect for those still harbouring jitters about a near-term end of the US easing policy."
The Fed programme has been credited with propping up global equity markets, and Bernanke's comments helped stoke a modest rise on Wall Street Wednesday.
News that the stimulus would not likely be rowed back in the near future also boosted investor appetite for higher-yielding assets, sending the dollar surging against the yen. In afternoon Tokyo trade the greenback bought 100.24 yen, up from 99.60 yen in New York late Wednesday.
The market is now focused on a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Moscow on Thursday and Friday, brokers said.
Also in dealers' sights are national polls Sunday that will elect half of Japan's 242-member upper chamber of parliament, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party is expected to win.
In Tokyo stock trade, SoftBank jumped 4.03 percent to a decade-high of 6,450 yen after the company said it had set up a joint venture with a US firm to supply green energy in Japan.
Tokyo Electric Power eased 0.54 percent to 735 yen following reports that steam has been spotted in a reactor building at its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, although the utility insisted there were no signs yet of increased radiation. (AFP)
