Tokyo stocks open higher extending US gains

TOKYO – Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors took heart from gains on Wall Street for a second straight session following strong US consumer data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.50 percent or 143.11 points at 28,705.32 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.50 percent or 9.95 points to 1,981.46.

The Japanese market is supported by positive sentiment “following US rallies” but trade will remain within a narrow range as more investors take year-end holidays, senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Online Securities said.

The dollar fetched 114.10 in early Asian trade, against 114.16 yen in New York late Wednesday.

Exporters were broadly higher with Nippon Steel trading up 0.54 percent at 1,861 yen and Sony Group up 1.01 percent at 14,070 yen.

Honda was up 1.51 percent at 3,161 yen and Panasonic was up 0.81 percent at 1,243.5 yen, shrugging off a report in the Nikkei business daily that plants in Malaysia supplying both companies were temporarily forced to suspend operations due to flooding.

Eisai nosedived 8.97 percent to 6,483 yen after the Japanese health ministry decided to delay a decision on whether to approve an Alzheimer’s treatment jointly developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical firm and its US partner Biogen.

And Hitachi dived 3.14 percent to 6,047 yen after the company said its subsidiary had discovered “inappropriate conduct regarding some of the brake components” manufactured in Japan, such as periodic tests not being carried out.