Tokyo stocks surge

Tokyo's benchmark index closed at a six-week high Thursday, with exporters boosted by a weak yen after a report said Japan's government is planning stimulus twice as big as initially thought. The package of at least 20 trillion yen is aimed refiring the world's number-three economy and fending off any impact from Britain's decision to leave the EU, Kyodo news agency reported citing unnamed sources.
Another record close on Wall Street also lifted spirits as traders cheered a string of forecast-beating corporate results from some of the world's biggest firms including Microsoft and Morgan Stanley. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.77 percent, or 128.33 points, at 16,810.22, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.65 percent, or 8.64 points, to 1,339.39.
Exporters were the big winners as the dollar rose to 107.14 yen from 106.87 in New York.
"The current situation is good for stocks," Mitsushige Akino, a Tokyo-based executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, told Bloomberg News. "With the yen back at 107 to the dollar, I expect Japanese stocks to do well. The US economy is good, and there's hope for policy measures in Japan too." Toyota rose 1.73 percent to 5,875 yen, banking giant Mistsubishi UFJ gained 2.19 percent to end at 522.1 yen and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, a market heavyweight, jumped 2.43 percent to 33,720 yen.
McDonald's Japan soared more than 10 percent during intra-day trade after it announced late Wednesday that it was collaborating with developers of Nintendo's Pokemon Go game ahead of its rollout in Japan. But the fast-food chain closed 1.13 percent lower at 3,745 yen, as Pokemon fans, and investors, were left frustrated by continued uncertainty over when the hugely popular app will hit Japan. The game has been released in more than 30 countries, but Japan - where Nintendo started the mythical creature franchise 20 years ago - has been kept waiting with no official launch date. Nintendo, which had more than doubled since the game's launch this month, rose 0.84 percent to 28,000 yen.