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| - Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index recovered early losses to close up for a fifth consecutive session Friday as hopes for economic measures taken by major countries offset pandemic concerns. The Nikkei 225 index gained 0.74 percent, or 167.99 points, to 22,863.73 and advanced 4.5 percent over the week. The broader Topix index was up 0.54 percent, or 8.66 points at 1,612.48. It gained 3.1 percent from a week earlier. "Buying sentiment was firmly supported by expectations of fiscal and monetary measures taken by major economies," said Shinichi Yamamoto, a broker at Okasan Securities in Tokyo. The market largely ignored negative domestic figures released on Friday, including Japan's household spending, which in April recorded its worst drop in nearly two decades. "The current sentiment is strong enough to digest such negative figures," Yamamoto told AFP. Investors are focusing on the release of a key US jobs report later in the day. The May US jobs data is expected to show a spike in unemployment, which "could remind stock markets of how bad the real economy is," Mutsumi Kagawa, chief global strategist at Rakuten Securities, said in a commentary. The report will likely show national unemployment increasing to near 20 percent from 14.7 percent in April, the highest unemployment rate in 90 years. The dollar was holding firm, changing hands at 109.26 yen in Asian afternoon trade, compared with 109.16 in New York Thursday afternoon. In Tokyo trade, Toyota gained 1.33 percent to 7,067 yen with Sony up 0.17 at 7,280. Uniqlo clothing chain operator Fast Retailing rose 0.21 percent to 63,940 yen while telecom and investment giant SoftBank gained 0.86 percent to 5,220 yen. si/sah/gle
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