TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed higher on Friday as investors largely welcomed fresh Japan stimulus designed to shore up its pandemic recovery.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.50 percent, or 147.21 points, to 29,745.87. Over the week, it gained 0.5 percent.

The broader Topix index was up 0.44 percent or 9.01 points at 2,044.53 and added 0.2 percent from a week before.

"Although it was widely expected, the market took the package as positive news," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a record $490 billion stimulus for the world's third-largest economy on Friday, as he looks to shore up the country's patchy pandemic recovery.

The 56 trillion yen injection, the third since the Covid crisis struck last year and expected to be formally approved by the cabinet later in the day, "is enough to deliver a sense of safety and hope to the Japanese people", Kishida said.

"Market sentiment is not so bad," Horiuchi told AFP, adding: "The 30,000 mark is in sight."

The dollar fetched 114.34 yen in Asian afternoon trade, against 114.25 yen in New York late Thursday.

In Tokyo, tech shares were among winners.

Chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron jumped 3.64 percent to 62,820 yen and Advantest, a producer of chip-testing kits, gained 1.55 percent to 10,430 yen.

Asics, which provides goods for Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani, surged 3.35 percent to 3,020 yen after the Japanese baseball player was named American League Most Valuable Player.

Mizuho Financial Group fell 1.85 percent to 1,458.5 yen after reports said its Chief Executive Officer Tatsufumi Sakai would step down in the wake of multiple technical failures that drew criticism from the government.