Tokyo - The Tokyo market soared nearly 5 per cent to close Tuesday trading as investors returned to buy back battered shares after the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit a three-month low the previous day.

The Nikkei index surged 378.93 points, or 4.93 per cent, to 8,061.07, and the broader Topix index of all first section issues also rose 37.21 points, or 4.84 per cent, to 805.49.

On currency markets at midday (0300 GMT), the dollar traded at 89.70-75 yen, up from Monday's 5 pm quote of 88.61-64 yen.

Tokyo  - Stocks ended Tuesday morning trading higher in Tokyo as investors bought back battered shares after the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit a three-month low the previous day.

The Nikkei index ended morning trading up 267.93 points, or 3.49 per cent, at 7,950.07, and the broader Topix index of all first section issues also rose 26.59 points, or 3.46 per cent, to 794.87.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 89.25-30 yen, up from Monday's 5 pm quote of 88.61-64 yen.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened with little action Monday as cautious investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of upcoming corporate earnings reports by major Japanese companies.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average inched up 11.72 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 7,756.97.

But the broader Topix index of all first section issues dipped 1.13 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 772.42.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 88.40-45 yen, up from Friday's 5 pm quote of 88.32-35 yen.

Tokyo - At first, they blackmailed their victim. Again and again, four high school students sent text messages to their classmate, demanding hundreds of thousands of yen.

Then they posted a nude photograph of the 18-year-old boy online, complete with phone number and email, leading to more text messages on his mobile phone and humiliation.

In the end, the student saw only one solution to end his torment - and jumped to his death from the roof of his school in Kobe, central Japan, in late 2007, a case that shocked the Japanese public.

Tokyo  - Japan's key Nikkei 225 Stock Average extended its losses Friday to a two-month low after Sony Corp announced a projected record operating loss for fiscal 2008.

The Nikkei index tumbled 306.49 points, or 3.81 per cent, to close at 7,745.25, and the broader Topix index of all first section issues was also down 22.36 points, or 2.81 per cent, at 773.55.

Tokyo  - Japan on Friday launched an H2A rocket carrying its Ibuki satellite on a mission to examine the effects of greenhouse gases on the Earth's atmosphere.

The Ibuki satellite is to observe for five years the concentration of carbon dioxide and methane, which cause global warming, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, which makes the H2A rocket.

The satellite is to measure levels of greenhouse gases at 56,000 locations around the globe, the agency said.