Nikkei leaps 3% as BoJ rolls out fresh stimulus

The Nikkei has closed 3.1% higher at 14,843 after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said it would double the size of two lending programmes in a bid to prop up credit growth.

The BoJ said it would seek to spur banks' loans to businesses and households via an increase in two programmes that were set to expire in April. That prompted a 3.1% rise in the Nikkei - its best day for over six months - and a 0.7% drop in the yen against the dollar. Concerns over emerging markets and ongoing yen strength had previously seen the Nikkei drop by well over 10% year-to-date. Today's rise eases those losses to 8.9% since 31 December. It follows disappointing Japanese GDP figures, released yesterday, which had sparked speculation that the country's Abenomics stimulus pr...