Tokyo stocks up 0.2pct

Published Dec 7, 2012

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Tokyo - Tokyo stocks rose 0.20 percent by the end of Friday's morning session, tracking gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 19.17 points to 9,564.33, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares were up 0.28 percent, or 2.21 points, at 790.95.

US stocks finished in positive territory on Thursday after circling the breakeven line for much of the session, with a mild rebound by volatile Apple buoying the Nasdaq for a 0.5 percent gain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,074.04, up 39.55

points (0.30 percent).

The Nikkei index was trading in negative territory at one time in the morning session, as buoyant overseas bourses were offset by modest yen strength and a large-lot selling by overseas hedge funds, market players said.

The dollar changed hands at 82.49 yen in Tokyo midday trade, compared with 82.42 yen in New York late on Thursday.

The euro bought $1.2966 in Tokyo morning trade, almost unchanged from late Thursday in New York, where it had briefly fallen to around $1.2950 at one point, while the single currency inched up to 107.00 yen from 106.85 yen.

“Large-lot selling in Nikkei futures seen from just a few overseas hedge funds is likely to keep any Nikkei advance to a minimum,” Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

“Hedge funds want to unwind positions and head home for the holidays early,” he said.

Sony was up 1.59 percent at 829 yen and Toyota Motor was up 0.42 percent at 3,550 yen.

Kao was up 0.34 percent at 2,307 after a report saying that the maker of home products will likely book a group operating profit of about 100 billion yen in the financial year to December. - Sapa-AFP

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