Tokyo's Nikkei closes up more than 1.0%

TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index closed up more than 1.0 percent Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street as investors welcomed the US Federal Reserve's pledge to continue its easy-money policies.

The Nikkei 225 rose 1.01 percent, or 302.42 points, to 30,216.75, while the broader Topix index advanced 1.23 percent, or 24.48 points, to 2,008.51.

"Japanese shares are supported by US market rallies" following the Fed's announcement it will keep the current monetary easing policy until the end of 2023, Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a commentary.

The US central bank shared an optimistic outlook for the American economy, but Fed chair Jerome Powell cautioned a full recovery remains far off.

"Market sentiment remains positive as the number of investors willing to cash in is limited," said Daiwa Securities chief technical analyst Eiji Kinouchi.

"Japanese shares are expected to stay on course for further gains for now," Kinouchi told AFP.

The dollar fetched 108.84 yen in Asian afternoon trade, against 108.82 yen in New York late Wednesday.

In Tokyo, Panasonic gained 1.05 percent to 1,394 yen after the firm said it will sell all the shares of its European disposable battery units to German asset management group Aurelius.

Toshiba gained 1.47 percent to 3,795 yen as its extraordinary general shareholders meeting approved a proposal by overseas hedge funds to probe their gathering last year over fairness concerns.

Z Holdings lost 1.55 percent to 601.5 yen after its group online chat firm Line said some customer information was accessed by its Chinese technicians without consent.