TOKYO: Tokyo shares ended 1.89 percent higher Monday at their best close in nearly five years, with the yen weakening after G20 finance leaders gave cautious approval to Japan's huge monetary easing moves.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended up 251.89 points at 13,568.37, while the Topix index of all first-section shares rose 1.68 percent, or 18.93 points, to 1,145.60.
Exporters got a boost as the dollar firmed to 99.74 yen, up from 99.52 in New York late Friday and approaching the 100 yen mark, which it last touched in April 2009.
The euro also rose at 130.21 yen from 129.94 yen.
The finance chiefs of the G20, after a meeting in Washington, gave a cautious endorsement of Japan's huge monetary stimulus, agreeing it was necessary to boost the country's stagnant economy.
Japan's latest policy actions "are intended to stop deflation and support domestic demand", they said in a statement, referring to falling prices that have stunted growth for years.
A senior US Treasury official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Japanese officials had stressed how the policy moves would lift demand in the world's third-largest economy, which has been struggling for two decades.
"The latest decision on quantitative easing remedies the situation that was building up for years," said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, chair of the G20 meeting, at a news conference.
CLSA equities analyst Nicholas Smith told Dow Jones Newswires that "now the G20 is over and Japan escaped any meaningful criticism over its monetary policy, earnings and earnings forecasts are increasingly the focus now".
Exporters and telecoms led the market's rise, with mobile operator SoftBank up 1.14 percent at 4,415 yen and automaker Honda climbing 1.68 percent at 3,915 yen.
Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding surged 13.01 percent to 191 yen, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries was down 0.90 percent at 330 yen, following a report in the leading Nikkei business daily that the pair are set to launch merger negotiations. (AFP)
