Tokyo stocks open higher over US gains

April 07, 2011 | 09:22

(0) user say

Tokyo stocks were higher Thursday morning, after overnight gains on Wall Street and on a weaker yen, dealers said, but uncertainty over the impact of the March 11 disasters remained.

illustration photo

The Nikkei 225 rose 68.28 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 9,652.65 in early trade. The Topix index gained 5.39 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 845.00.

But dealers expected shares to lose steam as investors continue to monitor progress at TEPCO's troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Monex market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama.

Investors were also braced for the key corporate earnings season for early indications of the impact of Japan's biggest recorded earthquake, the raging tsunami it unleashed and a subsequent nuclear crisis, Kanayama told Dow Jones Newswires.

TEPCO shares, which had lost around 85 per cent of their pre-quake value on Wednesday, gained about three per cent in the mid-morning.

Overnight, the US stock market was nudged upward by rumours of a shake-up at tech giant Cisco and rising banking stocks.

Leaked comments from Cisco boss John Chambers suggested big changes ahead at the firm, prompting speculation he might spin off Cisco's consumer business.

That pushed the networking giant's stocks up 4.9 per cent, on hopes the company will regain direction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.85 points (0.27 per cent) to 12,426.75 at the close.

The dollar was at 85.40 yen, compared with 85.44 yen in New York on Wednesday. The yen was at 122.28 to the euro from 122.45 yen.

AFP

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional