Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closes at 15-yr high

Tokyo - Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed at a 15-year high on Thursday, sitting at a level last seen when Sony's groundbreaking PlayStation 2 hit the shelves, the Dot-com bubble was collapsing and Bill Clinton still occupied the White House.

The benchmark index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 65.62 points to 18 264.79, its best finish since May 2000, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 12.26 points to 1 494.93.

Wall Street closed nearly flat on Wednesday, but Tokyo has been taking a strong lead from the United States, where shares have been hitting new records, while a sharply weaker yen has inflated profits for many of Japan's biggest firms.