Tokyo: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday following gains on Wall Street as investors digested news from the US-Japan summit talks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.38 percent, or 83.00 points, to 21,930.59 in early trade while the broader Topix was up 0.23 percent, or 4.03 points, at 1,734.01.
Wall Street stocks powered higher Tuesday on strong corporate earnings.
“While concerns about the Syrian situation and trade frictions with China have receded, hopes for corporate earnings will keep leading the (US) market,” said Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities.
“Japanese stocks are also expected to rise further thanks to calm in the external environment,” he said in a commentary.
There were no market-upsetting headlines during talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump.
The dollar inched up to 107.11 yen from 107.03 yen in New York Tuesday afternoon.
Government data released early Wednesday showed Japan’s politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States edged down in March.
SoftBank Group rose 1.58 percent to 8,096 yen with investors shrugging off news it had been slapped with a punitive tax for failing to declare part of the income from some overseas subsidiaries.
Factory automation machinery maker Fanuc climbed 2.28 percent to 27,060 yen while Nintendo was down 0.90 percent at 44,020 yen.
AFP