Tokyo: Stocks open higher tracking US rallies, cheap yen

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks opened fractionally higher on Thursday, tracking rallies in New York where the market was boosted by solid US economic data, and a cheap yen against the US dollar.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.08 per cent, or 18.84 points, to 23,456.61 in early trade, while the broader Topix index inched up 0.03 per cent, or 0.49 points, to 1,711.47.

"Japanese shares are seen rising helped by rallies in US shares and a cheap yen," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst, said in a commentary.

But with a US market holiday for Thanksgiving on Thursday, trade is subdued and some investors are taking profits off the table, analysts said.

Wall Street stocks again hit new all-time highs on Wednesday following better-than-expected American economic data.

US growth was revised up to 2.1 per cent in the third quarter, a bit better than the 1.9 per cent in the prior report. Orders for durable goods also topped expectations.

The US dollar fetched 109.36 yen in Asia against 109.55 yen in New York and 109.15 yen in Tokyo on Tuesday.

In Tokyo, Panasonic was up 1.83 per cent at 999.3 yen after a report said it plans to sell its loss-making chip business to a Taiwanese company.

Among other major shares, SoftBank Group was up 0.66 per cent at 4,278 yen, game giant Nintendo was higher by 0.42 per cent at 42,710 and Toyota climbed 0.34 per cent to 7,716 yen.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.2 per cent at 28,164.00.

AFP