Japan's Nikkei average climbed 2.2 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day percentage gain in five months, after the European Central Bank outlined its bond buying scheme in an attempt to draw a line under the region's debt crisis. Stronger-than-expected jobs data from US private sector, which bode well for the key US non-farm payroll figures due out on Friday, also encouraged investors to cover their bearish bets.
The jump helped the Nikkei scramble into positive territory for the week, adding 0.4 percent to snap a two-week losing run on concerns over sputtering growth in China, Japan's largest exports market. It has risen 4.9 percent this year. "The ECB gave investors what they were hoping for, which is obviously positive for equities," said Masayuki Doshida, senior market analyst at Rakuten Securities.
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The Nikkei advanced 191.08 points to 8,871.65, breaking above its 75-day moving average at 8,773.26 but failing to push through resistance at 8,881, the 38.2 percent retracement of its rally from July 25 to August 20. The broader Topix climbed 2.3 percent to 735.17 and trading volume hit its highest in four weeks, with 1.97 billion shares changing hands.
A rallying euro against the yen helped exporters, with Toyota Motor Corp up 3.4 percent, industrial robot maker Fanuc Corp adding 2.6 percent and Canon Inc rising 4.6 percent. Toshiba Corp, a maker in NAND flash chips, surged 7.3 percent after OCZ Technology Group Inc, a solid-state drive maker, said it faced a significant shortage in certain NAND flash components used in making some of its products.
A source also said Apple Inc has reduced its order for memory chips for its new iPhone from Samsung Electronics Co, instead picking Toshiba and other competitors as its suppliers. Sharp Corp rose 3 percent after sources at its lenders said banks are hammering out a refinancing plan for the embatled TV maker without waiting for Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry to agree to buy a stake in the Japanese firm as talks betwen the Apple Inc suppliers pause.
Other notable gainers included Komatsu Ltd and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co Ltd, up 6.6 and 4.7 percent respectively, after China gave the greenlight for 60 infrastructure projects this week. Japan Tobacco Inc sagged 4.3 percent and was the third-most traded stock on the main board by turnover after the French government said it was considering raising the tobacco tax by 6 percent in October. Japan Tobacco had a 16.4 percent share of the French market as of December 2011.