TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday as a weaker yen lifted exporters, but Toshiba plunged 16 percent on concerns about huge losses in its US nuclear power business.
Takata shares also dived, tumbling 17 percent on a report that two suitors are set to propose a bankruptcy restructuring plan for the airbag maker at the centre of the biggest-ever auto safety recall.
The dollar rose to 114.63 yen Thursday from the 113-yen range early Wednesday, a plus for Japanese shares, after investors took remarks by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen as signalling more interest rate hikes this year.
The US central bank is close to achieving its inflation and employment goals although any policy moves depend on the state of the world's top economy, she said.
"The tone of Yellen's remarks appears to have gotten stronger, spurring expectations for a March rate hike," said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
"The yen is back on its weakening trend and investors are likely to restore their interest in exporters," he told Bloomberg News.
A weaker yen is a positive for exporters, and stirs demand for their shares, as it makes their products more competitive abroad and inflates the value of repatriated profits.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.94 percent, or 177.88 points, to close at 19,072.25, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 0.94 percent, or 14.29 points, to finish at 1,528.15.
Toyota rose 1.76 percent to 6,855 yen and Canon climbed 1.00 percent to 3,312 yen.
Nintendo ended up 1.42 percent at 23,800 yen after the company said it plans to launch its Super Mario Run smartphone game for Android in March.
The app has been available on Apple's iPhones since December.
The firm also announced a new smartphone game called Fire Emblem Heroes, which is free to download and offers some optional items that players can buy.
Toshiba fell to 242.3 yen after Japanese media reported the troubled conglomerate could book losses of as much as 700 billion yen in its nuclear reactor business.
Takata fell by its maximum daily loss limit to close at 717 yen after trading was suspended in the morning session following the rescue plan report by Japan's leading Nikkei business daily.
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