Tokyo

FLUSHED with success from a recent landslide election victory, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is about to launch powerful new "arrows" from its "Abenomics" quiver, including at least 20 trillion yen (S$255 billion) of extra fiscal stimulus and possible further monetary easing, Japanese media reported on Thursday.

The news, coupled with gains on Wall Street and a fall in the yen to a six-week low of 107.72 against the dollar at one point in Tokyo trading, sent the Nikkei 225 share average up by 0.8 per cent to a closing six-week high of 16,810.22 after touching near 17,000 at one point during the day.