Tokyo: Stocks close higher after US gains

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks finished higher on Tuesday, snapping a three-day losing streak and tracking gains on Wall Street, as Japanese markets resumed trade after a long weekend.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.88 per cent, or 420.30 points, to end at 22,750.24, while the broader Topix index gained 2.54 per cent, or 39.22 points, to 1,585.96.

"Tokyo shares are up following rallies on the Dow and after three days of losses in Tokyo," said Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, adding that they were also boosted by gains on the Hong Kong and Shanghai bourses.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.3 per cent and the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent. But the tech-rich Nasdaq was down 0.4 per cent as investors eyed uncertain data and an elusive deal on a new emergency spending package.

Japanese markets have been stagnating since June due to "opposing factors", Rakuten Securities chief strategist Masayuki Kubota said in a note.

"The development of vaccines against the coronavirus has been progressing faster than expected... but infections are spreading in the US, Europe and Japan," he said.

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"US President (Donald) Trump is also adopting a tough stance against China," with measures against TikTok and WeChat, he said.

In Tokyo trading, SoftBank Group dropped 2.45 per cent to 6,361 yen before announcing its financial results.

The telecoms and investment giant said after the closing bell that its quarterly net profit to June rose 11.9 per cent to US$12 billion.

Carmakers were higher, with Honda surging 6.37 per cent to 2,710.5 yen, Nissan jumping 6.36 per cent to 406.3 yen, and Toyota rising 3.95 per cent to 7,150 yen.

Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 1.01 per cent to 59,630 yen while Sony edged up 0.14 per cent to 8,537 yen.

The US dollar traded at 106.15 yen in Asian trade, against 105.95 yen in New York late on Monday.

AFP