The U.S. dollar fell close to the 105 yen level in late Friday trading in Tokyo, as yen rebounded against both the euro and the greenback.
In the absence of any major economic releases, traders covered their short yen positions ahead of the week-end after a week of disappointing economic data from Japan which included revisions to the country's GDP's figures for the past 3 quarters that showed Japan has entered a recession.
At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at 105.24-27 yen against Thursday's 5 p.m. quotes of 105.50-60 yen in New York and 105.25-27 yen in Tokyo.
Tokyo stocks rose to an eight-month high Friday as foreign and domestic investors bought large capitalization exporters such as TDK, Kyocera, Toyota and Honda Motor.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 77.40 points, or 0.7%, to 11660.12, following a 18.96-point fall Thursday. Friday's closing level marked the highest finish since July 2, reflecting confidence in future economic growth.
Electronics components maker TDK rose 1.5% to Y7,510, pushing the Nikkei index up by more than four points. Rival Kyocera advanced 1.7% to Y7,840. Automakers Honda Motor and Toyota Motor were the day's sixth and seventh-most traded shares by value, respectively. Honda rose 1.4% to Y5,640, while Toyota added 1.2% to Y4,170.
The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues rose 4.64 points, or 0.4%, to 1166.57.
On the TSE's First Section, 768 issues rose, 680 issues fell, and 156 were unchanged from Thursday. Volume on the TSE First Section was estimated at 1.370 billion shares, up from 1.343 billion shares Thursday. The near-term March Nikkei 225 futures contract ended up 60 points at 11650 on the Osaka Securities Exchange.