TOKYO: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 finished higher Friday, sending the benchmark index surging nearly 23 per cent this year as Japan's new government pledges to turn around the nation's long-suffering economy.
The Nikkei ended the last trading day of the year up 0.70 per cent, or 72.20 points, closing at 10,395.18, its best finish since Japan's 2011 quake-tsunami disaster, and 22.9 per cent up over the past year.
It was the strongest annual return for the Nikkei since 2005 when it climbed about 40 per cent.
However, the closely-followed index remains a shadow of its former self.
The Nikkei peaked at almost 39,000 in the last days of 1989 before the country's asset bubble popped, dealing a huge blow to the economy and sending the Nikkei plunging over the next two decades.
Tokyo's broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.67 per cent, or 5.71 points, to 859.80 Friday, to finish the year up 18 per cent.
- AFP/ck
Nikkei 225 index surges almost 23% in 2012
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Nikkei 225 index surges almost 23% in 2012
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Nikkei 225 index surges almost 23% in 2012
