Japanese shares rose sharply Friday, bolstered by aggressive monetary easing measures announced by the Bank of Japan, and a fall in the yen. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 199.1 points, or 1.58 per cent, to end at 12,833.64 while the broader-based Topix index was up 28.48 points, or 2.74 per cent, at 1,066.24. Investors sold stocks in the afternoon to lock in quick profits after the Nikkei surged as high as 4.68 per cent in the morning, crossing the 13,000 threshold for the first time since August 2008. For the week, the Nikkei rose 3.51 per cent and the Topix was up 3.05 per cent. New central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Thursday that the bank had decided to start aggressive monetary easing steps to achievea 2-per-cent rate of inflation to pull the world's third-largesteconomy out of 15 years of deflation. The bank said it would double the money supply to 270 trillion yen (2.89 trillion dollars) by the end of 2014, from 138 trillion yen atthe end of 2012. The bank will also buy more and longer-dated government bonds and boost purchases of higher-risk financial assets, it said. Export-linked stocks were buoyed by the yen's sharp decline against major currencies. A weaker yen makes Japanese goods less expensive overseas and improves repatriated revenues. On currency markets at 3 pm (0600 GMT), the dollar traded at 96.35-36 yen, up from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 95.60-61 yen. The euro was quoted at 124.47-51 yen, up from 122.36-40 yen late Thursday, and at 1.2916-2919 dollars, up from 1.2799-2800 dollars.
