AlQa'dah 29, 1432, Oct 27, 2011, SPA -- Japanese stocks surged 2 per cent Thursday as market sentiment was bolstered by European leaders' agreements to deal with the eurozone debt crisis, dpa reported. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 178.07 points, or 2.04 per cent, to close at 8,926.54. The Nikkei ended above the 8,900-point level for the first time in eight weeks. The broader-based Topix index was up 16.31 points, or 2.18 per cent, at 762.79. Tokyo stocks soared in the afternoon after eurozone leaders pushed through a promised package to resolve their two-year-old debt crisis with deals on bank recapitalizations, a beefed-up bailout fund and lender sacrifices on Greek debt. The Bank of Japan decided Thursday to expand a stimulus programme to help boost the nation's economy amid the yen's rise and the slowing global economy. The bank expanded an asset purchase programme to about 55 trillion yen (721.8 billion dollars) from 50 trillion yen. The additional funds would be used to buy Japanese government bonds, it said. The yen briefly hit another all-time high of 75.71 yen to the dollar Wednesday in London. A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive overseas and erodes repatriated earnings. On currency markets at 3 pm (0600 GMT) in Tokyo, the dollar traded at 75.90-92 yen, little changed from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 75.91-93 yen. The euro traded at 1.3992-3994 dollars, up from 1.3933-3935 dollars Wednesday, and at 106.19-24 yen, up from 105.77-81 yen.
