Tokyo stocks finished at another eight-month high on Friday amid continued hopes for an economic recovery in Japan. The U.S. dollar was up against the Japanese yen and the euro.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues gained 16.59 points, or 0.14 percent, to end at 11,873.05 points -- its highest closing since the July 1, 2004, finish of 11,896.01. The index has risen a total of 372.87 points, or 3.24 percent, over the last seven trading sessions, including Thursday's gain of 42.75 points, or 0.36 percent.
The dollar was trading at 105.43 yen at 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) Friday, up 0.30 yen from late Thursday in Tokyo and above the 105.23 yen it bought in New York later that day.
On the stock market, major steelmakers rose amid expectations of solid earnings as the economy recovers.
Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. gained 4.8 percent while JEF Holdings Inc. climbed 0.6 percent.
Hiroshi Arano, a managing director at Dai-ichi Kangyo Asset Management, said rising hopes for Japan's economy could propel the index up to the psychologically important 12,000 mark next week.
"Some investors now expect the economy to pick up from the January-March period, after bottoming in December," he said.
The broader TOPIX, which includes all issues on the Tokyo market's first section, added 2.59 points, or 0.22 percent, to finish Friday's trading at 1,192.11. The TOPIX gained 3.81 points, or 0.32 percent, the day before.
On the TSE's first section, advancing issues outnumbered decliners 822 to 642, while 182 issues ended flat. Volume fell to an estimated 1.903 billion shares from 1.942 billion shares Thursday.
In currencies, the dollar rose against both the yen and the euro in Tokyo on the view that U.S. economic data due later Friday would show solid U.S. job growth.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls for February were expected to have increased by a median 220,000, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. In January, nonfarm payrolls grew by 146,000.
"If February U.S. payrolls come in around 300,000, then the dollar may top 106.00 yen, which would pave the way for 107.00," said Minoru Shioiri, senior manager of the treasury and foreign exchange division at Mitsubishi Securities.
The euro fell to US$1.3112 late Friday in Tokyo from US$1.3135 late Thursday but rose to 138.23 yen from 138.05 yen.
The yield on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond fell to 1.5200 percent from Thursday's finish of 1.5300 percent. Its price rose 0.09 point to 99.82.