TOKYO – Tokyo stocks opened higher today following strong US jobs data that pushed Wall Street shares to new records.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.30% or 88.65 points at 29,700.22 in early trade, while the broader Topix index increased 0.35% or 7.13 points to 2,048.55.
“Japanese shares are likely to seek further rises following fresh records in US shares,” senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Online Securities said in a note.
Blockbuster job creation in the US helped push Wall Street stocks to new records, with the Dow ending up 0.6% at 36,327.95.
Reports that the Japanese government under new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to draft additional stimulus worthy of more than 30 trillion yen (US$260 billion, RM1.1 trillion) could also support the market, Ito added.
The dollar fetched 113.51 yen in early Asian trade, against 113.40 yen in New York late Friday.
Among major shares in Tokyo, Olympus soared 8.92% to 2,729.5 yen after it reported a better-than-expected second quarter operating profit and revised up its full-year operating profit forecast.
Honda was off 3.05% at 3,305 yen after it revised its annual profit forecast downwards on the chip shortage and supply-chain issues impacting automakers worldwide.
SoftBank Group was down 0.90% at 6,153 yen ahead of its earnings report due after the market close. – AFP, November 8, 2021
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