Nikkei closes at seven-year high

A man looks at his watch as he passes an electronic board displaying a graph of currency rates outside a brokerage in Tokyo.

A man looks at his watch as he passes an electronic board displaying a graph of currency rates outside a brokerage in Tokyo.

Published Oct 31, 2014

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Tokyo - Tokyo shares soared 4.83 percent to a seven-year high on Friday after the Bank of Japan ramped up its vast monetary easing programme, sending the yen into freefall.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 755.56 points to 16,413.76, its best close since November 2007, while the Topix index of all first-section issues jumped 4.28 percent, or 54.74 points, to 1,333.64.

BoJ policymakers said they would step up the pace of the central bank's asset-buying plan by as much as 20 trillion yen (R2 trillion), bringing it to 80 trillion yen annually.

On forex markets, the yen plunged to an almost seven-year low of 111.0 against the dollar following the BoJ's decision to pump even more money into the economy after a second-quarter contraction.

A weak yen is good for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive abroad and inflates their repatriated profits.

In morning trade before the BoJ announcement, stocks had risen 1.68 percent as forecast-beating US growth data offset another poor set of domestic economic indicators.

Investors also cheered reports that Japan's national pension fund, the world's largest, will double the amount of equities it holds in its investment portfolio as it seeks out higher returns to cope with an ageing population.

A raft of September Japanese economic data released early Friday showed a 5.6 percent drop in household spending, inflation slowing and unemployment rising.

However, dealers were in buying mood as the dollar jumped against the yen in response to data showing US economic growth expanding at an annualised 3.5 percent in July-September, against estimates of a 3.0 percent rise.

In Tokyo, Toyota jumped 3.80 percent to 6,498.0 yen, while Panasonic gained 3.28 percent to 1,305.0 yen.

Sony rose 0.82 percent to 2,072.0 yen.

Following the closing bell, Sony said its net loss for the April-September period ballooned to nearly $1.0 billion.

Fujitsu shares dropped 3.72 percent to 664.4 yen a day after it said its operating and net profits declined in the second quarter.

On Wall Street, strong earnings by credit card giant Visa sent its stock soaring by more than 10 percent, almost single-handedly powering the blue-chip Dow index to a 1.3 percent gain. - Sapa-AFP

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