Tokyo - Japan on Friday imposed stronger restrictions on money transfers to North Korea and extended existing sanctions against its totalitarian neighbour after its weekend rocket launch. The existing sanctions - including a ban on North Korean imports and a ban on ferry trips, the only transport link between the two countries - were due to expire Monday but were extended for another year.
The new sanctions are "aimed at shedding light on the flow of funds [to North Korea]," Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said.
Tokyo - The Tokyo market opened higher Friday, briefly sending the key Nikkei 225 Stock Average above 9,000 after an overnight surge on Wall Street. The Nikkei index was up 47.45 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 8,963.51 after peaking at 9,068.8 at during morning trading.
The broader Topix index of all first-section issues gained 3.66 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 845.47.
Exporters were helped by a weaker yen, which boosts earnings of Japanese firms.
Tokyo - Asian stocks bounced up Thursday as investors were cheered by news from Japan, where the government prepared to unveil a 154-billion-dollar economic stimulus package and its machinery orders unexpectedly rose.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged 3.74 per cent to 8,916.06, a day after falling 2.69 per cent on concerns over upcoming corporate earnings reports. Thursday's gains erased the Nikkei's losses for the year.
Japan's broader Topix index of all first-section issues also rose 3.26 per cent to 841.81.
Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday vowed create 1.4 to 2 million new jobs in the next three years to pull the domestic economy out of the worst recession in the postwar era.
Aso's long-term policy aims at increasing the nation's real gross domestic product (GDP) by 120 trillion yen (1.2 trillion dollars) and create 4 million new jobs by 2020.
Aso unveiled a plan to invest in low-carbon technology, expand nursing-care facilities and the workforce caring for the nation's ageing population, and improve medical services.
Tokyo - Japan's key machinery orders unexpectedly rose for the first time in five months in February, giving rise to hopes for a recovery in capital spending and an easing of the recession.
Machinery orders increased 1.4 per cent from January to 728.1 billion yen (7.28 billion dollars) on the back of an unexpected recovery in orders from the non-manufacturing sector, the government said.
The increase was better than the average market expectation for an 8.1-per-cent fall and caused stocks to rise.
Tokyo - Japan on Friday imposed stronger restrictions on money transfers to North Korea and extended existing sanctions against its totalitarian neighbour after its weekend rocket launch. The existing sanctions - including a ban on North Korean imports and a ban on ferry trips, the only transport link between the two countries - were due to expire Monday but were extended for another year.
Tokyo - The Tokyo market opened higher Friday, briefly sending the key Nikkei 225 Stock Average above 9,000 after an overnight surge on Wall Street. The Nikkei index was up 47.45 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 8,963.51 after peaking at 9,068.8 at during morning trading. 
Tokyo - Asian stocks bounced up Thursday as investors were cheered by news from Japan, where the government prepared to unveil a 154-billion-dollar economic stimulus package and its machinery orders unexpectedly rose.
Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday vowed create 1.4 to 2 million new jobs in the next three years to pull the domestic economy out of the worst recession in the postwar era.
Tokyo - Japan's key machinery orders unexpectedly rose for the first time in five months in February, giving rise to hopes for a recovery in capital spending and an easing of the recession.
Tokyo - The Tokyo market bounced back Thursday after investors were cheered by better-than-expected machinery orders.
