The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended the morning session up 150.73 points at 9,919.69, after rising to 9,939.33, the highest intraday point since August 1. The Topix index of all first-section issues rose 1.35 percent or 11.31 points to 847.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday finished up 0.55 percent at 12,907.94 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite up 1.18 percent at 2,970.42, after Greece appeared to have clinched a high-stakes debt swap deal, opening the way for an urgent bailout. Data out of Beijing showing inflation slowed sharply in February from the previous month provided a boost for China focused stocks, with analysts optimistic about further monetary easing. China's consumer price index rose 3.2 percent in February -- the lowest since June 2010 compared with 4.5 percent in January, when spending before the Chinese New Year holiday drove up retail prices. Beijing has twice lowered the banks' reserve requirement ratio in the past three months, effectively increasing the amount of money they can lend, and analysts said they expect further such moves in the coming months. Nippon Steel was up 4.48 percent at 233 yen amid hopes for easing in China. Other exporters were also up with the yen falling against the dollar and euro. Sony soared 4.06 percent to 1,715 yen and Toyota rose 2.10 percent to 3,400 yen. The yen was at 81.83 to the dollar and 108.58 to the euro at midday, much weaker than 81.30 and 106.83 a day earlier. Toray was up 2.64 percent at 582 yen after the leading synthetic fibre maker said it would invest some $555 million in its four global plants to boost carbon fibre output to meet increasing demand.