TOKYO, Feb 5 — Tokyo stocks opened higher today as investors took heart from a cheaper yen and rallies on Wall Street, while keeping a close eye on corporate earnings reports.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.37 per cent or 76.78 points, at 20,960.55 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.38 per cent, or 5.93 points, to 1,587.26.
The dollar fetched ¥109.98 (RM4.09) in early Asian trade, slightly higher than ¥109.92 in New York and ¥109.74 in Tokyo yesterday.
Wall Street stocks rose again yesterday, partly due to reassurances from the Federal Reserve of a cautious approach to further interest rate hikes, positive commentary by Beijing and Washington on trade talks and a solid earnings season.
“Japanese shares are seen rising at the start backed by rallies in US shares and a cheaper yen,” Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a commentary.
Traders may get more cautious in the coming hours ahead of US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address due today, analysts said.
In Tokyo, Toyota edged up 0.25 per cent to ¥6,744 ahead of its earnings report later this week, while small car specialist Suzuki was up 0.75 per cent at ¥5,757 ahead of its earnings later today.
Mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp was up 0.59 per cent at ¥1,361 ahead of its earnings report due later today.
Panasonic was down 6.10 per cent at ¥996.2 after a brokerage house revised down its view of the shares’ value and after the electronics firm said its nine months to December net profit declined 13 per cent year-on-year.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.7 per cent at 25,239.37. — AFP
