Japan's Nikkei Stock Average maintained sharp upward trend on Thursday on expectations for global monetary easing. Japanese Yen kept weakening versus Euro and greenback, improving competitiveness for Japanese exporters. Nikkei 225 index rose 1.24% or 106.19 points and finished at 8,639.72. Almost 11 shares soared for each that declined on the index. Car makers and financials rallied. Mazda Motors and Honda Motors surged 4.1% and 2.1% respectively. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group added 2.6%.