Tokyo: Nikkei edges up on US rallies
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[TOKYO] Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index inched up on Monday, helped by rallies on Wall Street and sustained positive sentiment on US-China trade.
The Nikkei 225 index rose 0.02 per cent, or 4.48 points, to close at 23,821.11, but the broader Topix index was down 0.21 per cent, or 3.65 points, at 1,729.42.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he had a "very good talk" with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on a partial resolution of the trade war.
"Investors took heart from President Trump's comments" that the talks with China were productive, Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, said in a commentary.
Mr Trump tweeted that China "already started large scale" increases in purchases of US farm goods, in line with the deal.
However, he did not give a date for when the so-called "phase one" agreement will actually be signed.
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The comments helped boost US stocks on Friday, with all three major indices ending at all-time highs and the dollar edging higher against its major peers.
"But Tokyo's gain was limited, facing profit-taking, as investors were on the sidelines in holiday mood," Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities, told AFP.
The US dollar fetched 109.42 yen in Asian afternoon trade against 109.47 yen in New York late on Friday.
In Tokyo trade, Sony rose 0.90 per cent to 7,392 yen and Toyota gained 0.28 per cent to 7,766 yen, with Nintendo up 0.13 per cent at 43,260 yen.
But market heavyweight SoftBank Group lost 0.23 per cent to 4,663 yen and Uniqlo-operator Fast Retailing edged down 0.09 per cent to 66,590 yen.
AFP
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