HONG KONG — Hopes that the Japanese central bank will announce measures to stem the yen's rise lifted the dollar on Thursday while also giving a boost to Asian stock markets. Traders bought up the greenback following a report that the Bank of Japan will consider steps to prevent any further strengthening of the nation's currency, which hit a 15-year high against the US unit last week. Sentiment was also stoked after Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda reiterated at a regular press briefing that he would closely watch the forex market. The dollar climbed to 85.63 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, compared with 85.44 in New York Wednesday. The euro slipped to 1.2808 dollars from 1.2852 and to 109.71 yen from 109.79 in New York. "Given weakness in Japan's April-June GDP and the government's decision to take additional economic stimulus steps, the BoJ may have no choice but to do its utmost efforts to cooperate with the government," Nikko Cordial Securities chief market economist Mari Iwashita told Dow Jones Newswires. The Sankei Shimbun reported that the BoJ may expand its programme to provide funds to financial institutions at a 0.1 percent fixed rate for three months, which is expected to help lower interest rates in the market and bring down the yen. The government this week said it was considering economic stimulus measures to kick-start a faltering economic recovery, which data showed had eased on Monday due to weak exports and domestic demand. Stocks rose amid hopes that any economic and currency measures could give a much-needed lift to Japan's economy. Tokyo's Nikkei ended 1.32 percent, or 122.14 points, higher at 9,362.68 with exporters, who suffer from a strong yen, the beneficiaries. Confidence that upcoming earnings data will be strong helped Hong Kong to finish 0.24 percent, or 49.73 points, higher at 21,072.46, while Shanghai rose 0.81 percent, or 21.68 points, to 2,687.98. Sydney bounced back from earlier lows to close 4.1 points higher at 4,479. The index had been down in the morning on concerns over miner BHP Billiton's hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp, the world's largest fertiliser producer. The index heavyweight announced on Wednesday the 40-billion-US-dollar offer after a previous bid was rebuffed by the Canadian company on Tuesday. BHP shed 0.3 percent. On Wall Street the Dow edged up 0.09 percent after upbeat earnings figures from discount retail giant Target and John Deere, the world's largest tractor manufacturer. Oil was mixed in Asian trade, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, up four cents to 75.46 dollars a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October shed nine cents to 76.38 dollars. Gold closed at 1,229.50-1,230.50 US dollars an ounce, up from Wednesday's close of 1,222.00-1,223.00 dollars. In other markets: -- Singapore closed up 0.94 percent, or 27.40 points, at 2,946.77. Singapore Airlines rose 0.90 percent to 15.64 Singapore dollars and Keppel Corp was up 0.57 percent to 8.80. -- Seoul closed 1.00 percent, or 17.65 points, higher at 1,779.64. -- Taipei closed flat, edging up 4.84 points to 7,928.94. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.84 percent higher at 60.1 Taiwan dollars while rival United Microelectronics Corp rose 0.72 percent at 13.95. -- Kuala Lumpur closed up 0.51 percent, or 7.05 points, at 1,392.56. Budget carrier AirAsia rose 3.0 percent to 1.73 ringgit on better-than-expected profit results but rubber glove maker Top Glove lost 1.8 percent to 6.08 ringgit. -- Jakarta rose 1.08 percent, or 33.27 points, to 3,105.35. Coal miner Bumi Resources shed 9.8 percent to 1,290 rupiah, while Bakrieland lost 5.9 percent to 96 rupiah. -- Manila rose 0.72 percent, or 25.59 points, to end at 3,560.39. Metropolitan Bank added 3.4 percent to 65.05 pesos and Metro Pacific Investments soared 7.5 percent to 3.42 but Philippine Long Distance Telephone was off 0.2 percent. -- Wellington closed up 0.38 percent, or 11.61 points, at 3,029.79. Fletcher Building added 1.2 percent to 7.43 New Zealand dollars and Air New Zealand was up 0.9 percent at 1.18, while Contact Energy gained 0.7 percent to 5.82. -- Bangkok rose 1.27 percent, or 11.21 points, to 891.23. Siam Cement jumped 8.00 baht to 268.00 and PTT added 6.00 baht to 266.00.

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