On the last trading day of the year, Japanese shares posted their best annual performance for more than four decades, leaving other major markets in the dust.
Prosecutors said Wednesday they had charged scandal-hit Olympusand three former senior executives over a huge loss cover-up at the company that rocked confidence in corporate Japan.
Scandal-hit Olympus on Wednesday filed its delayed earnings report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, avoiding an automatic delisting that would have wiped out the value of the 92-year-old company.
Major ratings agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded Japan's sovereign debt rating by one notch Wednesday, putting fresh pressure on the country's political leaders to repair its finances.
Tokyo shares rose 1.71 percent on Monday after US President Barack Obama announced that he and top lawmakers had reached an 11th-hour deal to avert a potentially disastrous debt default.
SENDAI, Japan (AFP) – Japan's emperor gave a rare address to a jittery nation on Wednesday as a nuclear emergency deepened and millions struggled in desperate conditions after last week's quake and tsunami disaster.
