The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.06 per cent or 13.79 points to 23,887.38 in early trade. — Reuters pic
TOKYO, Feb 7 ― Tokyo stocks opened slightly higher today, propped up by a weak yen and gains on Wall Street amid ebbing concerns over the economic impact of the new coronavirus outbreak.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose more than two per cent yesterday, added 0.06 per cent or 13.79 points to 23,887.38 in early trade. The broader Topix index edged up 0.09 per cent or 1.56 points to 1,738.54.
Wall Street stocks finished at fresh records yesterday, again shrugging off worries about the coronavirus outbreak and applauding China's move to cut tariffs on US goods.
“The environment is good, with higher US and European stock prices and the dollar hitting ¥110 (RM4.13) briefly,” Okasan Online Securities said in a note.
Investors could go for selling to lock in profits after the past three days of rises “but the market is now in a phase to roll back bear positions linked to the new virus,” it said.
The dollar briefly topped ¥110 early today before coming back to ¥109.94 against ¥109.97 in New York yesterday afternoon.
Despite the cheap yen, some exporters lost ground due to the expected impact of the outbreak.
Honda dropped 1.83 per cent to ¥2,883 after the Nikkei business daily reported it will extend its Wuhan plant closure at least until late February.
Nintendo was down 0.88 per cent to ¥40,540 after the game giant warned of a supply shortage of its popular Switch console and controllers in Japan as delays in production and shipments from factories in China were “inevitable”.
There will be no major impact on supplies to the US and European markets but a shortage is also expected in some parts of Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, according to a Nintendo spokesman.
IT investor SoftBank Group jumped 7.21 per cent to ¥5,068 after reports that US hedge fund Elliott Management has built an over US$2.5-billion stake in the Japanese group. ― AFP
