Tokyo: Stocks open 0.84% higher

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks opened 0.84 per cent higher on Friday following rallies on Wall Street and a rebound in the dollar against the yen.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 141.56 points to 16,934.04 at the start.

The dollar was at 115.35 yen early Friday, up from 115.16 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.

The yen plunged against the dollar after the Bank of Japan's decision last week to expand its already huge stimulus programme.

And while it recovered somewhat on Thursday it was facing another wave of selling pressure.

"The Bank of Japan's aggressive quantitative easing, announced last Friday, is likely to continue to influence the market via currency level fluctuations - mostly to the upside," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.

"It's likely that the fallout effect will continue through mid-December, keeping stock prices relatively well-supported," Mr Miura told Dow Jones Newswires.

A strong dollar is positive for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive abroad and inflates profits when repatriated.

On Thursday, the Dow and S&P 500 closed at new record highs for the second day in a row as investors looked ahead to Friday's jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40 per cent while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.38 per cent.

AFP