TOKYO, Nov 27 — Tokyo stocks rose for a fourth straight day today, helped by a cheaper yen and rallies on Wall Street with a continued focus on developments in the US-China talks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.28 per cent or 64.45 points to close at 23,437.77, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.31 per cent or 5.27 points to end at 1,710.98.
“Japanese shares are supported by record highs in US shares and by the dollar-yen rate hovering around the 109.00-50 yen levels,” said Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities.
But some investors sold shares to take profit ahead of a US market holiday for Thanksgiving tomorroq, Mizuho Securities said in a note.
“US-China trade news... (is) still dominating headlines, but markets are becoming desensitised amid a lack of concrete... news,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior strategist at National Australia Bank.
The dollar fetched ¥109.15 in early Asian trade, against ¥109.04 in New York and ¥109.00 in Tokyo yesterday.
Yesterday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke by phone to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, state media said.
The two sides “discussed solving issues regarding each other’s core concerns, reached consensus on properly resolving related issues, and agreed to maintain communication on remaining issues in consultations on the ‘phase one’ deal”, China’s official Xinhua news agency said, without providing more details.
US President Donald Trump also suggested there was progress, saying “we’re in the final throes of a very important deal”.
In Tokyo, steelmaker JFE Holdings ended up 0.71 per cent at ¥1,386 and electric furnace steel specialist Tokyo Steel advanced 0.48 per cent to ¥835, but Nippon Steel, which earlier traded in positive territory, ended down 0.21 per cent at ¥1,614.
Electronics were mostly higher, with Fujitsu rallying 2.27 per cent to ¥10,025, TDK climbing 1.11 per cent to ¥11,780 and Sharp ending up 1.67 per cent at ¥1,701. — AFP
