Tokyo: Shares close higher

[TOKYO] Tokyo shares made moderate gains on Friday, encouraged by overnight gains on Wall Street as investors took heart from news that the US and China will resume trade talks.

The key Nikkei 225 index added 0.35 per cent, or 78.34 points, to close at 22,270.38. Over the week, it lost 0.12 per cent as Turkey's financial crisis weighed on the market.

The broader Topix index firmed 0.62 per cent, or 10.38 points, to 1,697.53. It declined 1.32 per cent over the week.

"Tokyo's market took a positive lead from Wall Street and maintained the momentum throughout the day," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.

US shares rebounded on Thursday after Chinese officials announced they would send a senior negotiator to the United States later this month to resume trade talks, the first publicly announced meeting on the escalating dispute in weeks.

Traders saw a glimmer of hope of an easing in the trade battle that has seen the two sides hit each other with reciprocal tariffs on goods worth US$34 billion.

"The US-China trade issue will remain a major trading factor next week," Mr Horiuchi told AFP.

The dollar bought 110.87 yen in Asian afternoon trade, nearly flat from 110.90 yen in New York.

Among major shares, Toyota added 0.41 per cent to 6,803 yen, after reports that it was planning to boost production capacity in China, particularly for environmentally friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles and hybrids.

Sony surged 1.56 per cent to 6,040 yen, while market heavyweight SoftBank added 0.35 per cent to 10,020 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group jumped 1.89 per cent to 671 yen.

AFP