Stock Market

Japan's Nikkei average climbed nearly 4 percent on Thursday to hit its highest close in five weeks as exporters such as Canon Inc jumped on a weaker yen, while metal shares climbed after gold hit a new record. Mitsubishi Motors Corp soared 13.5 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported that PSA Peugeot Citroen is in talks to spend up to 300 billion yen ($3.4 billion) to acquire a 30-50 percent stake.