Nikkei: 9,849.74 (+157.90) Hang Seng: 23,720.81 (–84.82) Shanghai Comp: 2,912.14 (+25.09)ASIAN STOCKS added to recent gains this week with Tokyo's Nikkei Average hitting its best level since last month's earthquake.

The Nikkei 225 Average ended its week at 9849.74, up 1.7 per cent over its four trading days.

Sony had a tough week after admitting the reason for closing down its online gaming network was because the personal details of more than 70 million users had been hacked. The company fell 8.7 per cent to ¥2,260 ($27.6).

Canon was one of the Nikkei’s best-performing stocks after its forecast-beating earnings were seen as an encouraging sign that some areas of Japanese industry may not have been as badly affected by supply chain problems following the earthquake.

Canon was up 8.6 per cent to ¥3,800.

Strength in Australia’s dollar held back Sydney’s SP/ASX 200 for fears the higher cost of exporting will eat into the corporate profits of the country’s miners.

The index fell 1.8 per cent to 4,823.24, with BHP Billiton down 2.4 per cent to A$45.83. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)