Summary The greenback fetched 119.92 yen in afternoon forex trade, against 119.80 yen in New York.
TOKYO, (AFP) - Tokyo stocks rose 0.94 percent Thursday, notching up a five-day winning streak and hitting a fresh seven-year high thanks to a lower yen and record close on Wall Street, while reports said Japan s ruling coalition was set for a win in December elections.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 166.78 points to end at 17,887.21, the highest since July 2007, while the Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.76 percent, or 10.85 points, to 1,440.60.
Tokyo s early gains came as the dollar pushed closer towards 120 yen -- a level last seen in July 2007.
The greenback fetched 119.92 yen in afternoon forex trade, against 119.80 yen in New York.
A weak yen is positive for shares of Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive abroad and inflates their repatriated profits.
The dollar moved higher after the US Federal Reserve s Beige Book said "a number" of the central bank s 12 districts "remained optimistic about the outlook for future economic activity".
The report, a collection of anecdotal information on current economic conditions, is closely watched by investors as a barometer of the health of the economy.
For the first time in more than a year, the Fed dropped its "modest" and "moderate" descriptions of overall growth, saying reports suggest "that national economic activity continued to expand" in the past two months.
The news -- which came a day after healthy construction and sales figures -- was embraced on Wall Street. The Dow rose 0.18 percent to its second straight record close, while the S&P 500 gained 0.38 percent, also a new all-time high, and the Nasdaq added 0.39 percent.
In Tokyo on Thursday, markets also got a lift from media polls suggesting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s business-friendly ruling party was on track to sweep Japan s December 14 election.
Hisao Matsuura, senior strategist at Nomura Securities, said the Nikkei could rise above a 2007 high of 18,261.98 ahead of the vote.
"We can t rule out that possibility although the pace of gains warrants some caution," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
In share trading, Toyota rose 1.81 percent to 7,730.0 yen, although the automaker said it would recall some 190,000 cars in Japan and China due to defective airbags made by embattled parts supplier Takata, which fell 3.34 percent to 1,331.0 yen.
Sony rose 1.81 percent to 2,643.0 yen while market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, gained 0.29 percent at 43,925.0 yen
