Tokyo stocks close at fresh 15-year high

Tokyo stocks ticked up again Friday, marking a six-day rally with the benchmark index ending at a fresh 15-year high.

The Nikkei 225 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 0.30 percent, or 61.54 points to 20,264.41. The Topix of all first-section shares edged up 0.06 percent, or 1.05 points, to 1,647.85.

The market was in negative territory during the morning session, but it climbed after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced it was keeping its easy money programme unchanged and slightly boosted its view of the economy.

Policymakers kept the BoJ's annual 80-trillion-yen asset-buying stimulus unchanged while saying the world's third largest economy "has continued to recover moderately", slightly more upbeat than its view last month.

The announcement came days after official data showed the economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.6 percent in the first quarter as it crawls back from a brief recession.

"It is not that something about the economy dramatically changed. The economy has been steadily improving," BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda told a press briefing after markets closed.

"Improvement is likely to continue, and so we have taken a step forward in our assessment to fit the current situation."

Traders were also given a positive lead from Wall Street, where the S&P 500 ended at a new record high thanks to strong earnings from Best Buy and news that CVS Health would acquire pharmacy services company Omnicare for $12.7 billion.

Dealers were also awaiting a speech on the economy by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen later in the day.

"Having rallied the entire week, there's a lack of new developments and earnings season is over," said Tatsushi Maeno, head of Japanese equities at Pinebridge Investments in Tokyo.

"For now the market has lost a clear sense of direction," he told Bloomberg News.

In share trading, mobile carrier SoftBank added 1.90 percent to 7,352 yen, brokerage Nomura gained 1.37 percent to 830 yen and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal rose 1.25 percent to 323.4 yen.

A stronger yen hit some exporters with Toyota down 0.91 percent at 8,346 yen and Sony slipping 0.3 percent to 3,842 yen.

In late afternoon trading, the dollar was at 120.71 yen against 120.91 yen just before the BoJ announcement and 121.07 yen in New York.

hih/pb/dan