The dollar briefly topped the ¥90 line Friday morning in Tokyo for the first time in more than 2½ years and the Nikkei 225 average climbed nearly 3 percent to a 32-month high as expectations strengthened that the Bank of Japan will implement drastic monetary easing and remarks by Japanese officials showed support for a weaker yen.
At noon, the dollar was trading at ¥89.82-83 compared with ¥89.80-90 in New York and ¥88.60-61 in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday. After briefly rising to ¥90.14 in New York overnight, the U.S. currency's highest level versus the yen since June 2010, it eventually settled around the upper ¥89 level as some traders looked for fresh cues to test higher ground, dealers said.
The Nikkei average gained 303.66 points, or 2.86 percent, from Thursday to close at 10,913.30, the highest level in two years and nine months. The broader Topix of all first section issues was up 20.98 points, or 2.36 percent, at 911.44.