TOKYO – Tokyo stocks opened slightly higher today in cautious trade after a mixed close on Wall Street, with fears over an expansion of Covid-19 infections in Japan.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.07%, or 19.67 points, at 29,640.66 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.42%, or 8.12 points, to 1,960.30.
Japanese shares are seen moving in a narrow range “with a wait-and-see attitude increasing following a mixed close for US shares”, said Okasan Online Securities senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito in a note.
“Concerns about a fourth wave of virus infections are likely to weigh on the market, as the number of (daily) new cases across Japan topped 4,000.”
Investors are also increasingly cautious ahead of the Japanese corporate earnings season in coming weeks, said Mizuki Securities.
The dollar fetched ¥108.82 (RM4.13) in early Asian trade, against ¥108.94 in New York late yesterday.
In Tokyo, Toshiba was up 1.13% at ¥4,915 as investors watched developments in possible buyout offers for the Japanese engineering giant by foreign funds.
The firm’s CEO stepped down yesterday after a first buyout offer stirred internal turmoil.
Automakers are higher, with Toyota trading up 0.65% at ¥8,540 and its smaller rival Honda up 1.86% at ¥3,348.
Sony went up 0.90% at ¥12,300, Panasonic was up 2.07% at ¥1,427.5 and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest was up 1.32% at ¥10,770.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.2% at 33,730.89, but the broad-based S&P slipped 0.4% and the tech-rich Nasdaq closed down 1.0%. – AFP, April 15, 2021
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