Japan:Nikkei rises as strong-yen trend pauses

[TOKYO] Japanese stocks rose on Thursday as the strong-yen trend paused, while a surge in index-heavyweights such as SoftBank supported sentiment.

But gains were limited as the dollar-yen stayed in a narrow range after the US Federal Reserve dialled down on some of the more hawkish policy expectations in the market.

The Nikkei share average ended 0.4 per cent higher at 19,813.13, and the broader Topix gained 0.2 per cent to 1,578.42.

Information technology conglomerate SoftBank gained 3.8 per cent. Bloomberg reported that the company had built a US$4 billion stake in Nvidia.

REUTERS