Tokyo stocks open higher as Wall St stabilises
Tokyo, Jan 24 (AFP/APP): Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday, propped up by a calm session on Wall Street despite caution from investors over a new deadly virus from China.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.25 percent or 59.38 points to 23,854.82 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.12 percent or 2.16 points at 1,732.66.
US markets strengthened on Thursday after the World Health Organization stopped short of declaring a global emergency over the deadly outbreak.
“The calm in the US market is expected to put the brakes on (Tokyo’s) fall,” Okasan Online Securities said.
But “caution will grow over possible developments on the new pneumonia virus” when markets are shut over the weekend, it said in a note.
Japan on Friday confirmed the country’s second case of the novel coronavirus strain, in a man who travelled from the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The death toll in China has jumped to 25 with 830 total cases, according to the latest Chinese tally.
Tapas Strickland, director of markets at National Australia Bank, said markets were fearful the virus could spread further.
“Even if it doesn’t, the impact on China could be large with around 26 million people in cities or near urban areas that are either on lockdown or have limited travel,” he said in a commentary.
The yen hardly moved after Japanese government data showed the nation’s consumer inflation, excluding volatile fresh food prices, rising 0.7 percent in December from a year earlier, far below the two-percent target targeted by the central bank.
The dollar was trading at 109.54 yen early Friday against 109.47 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.
In individual stocks trade, chip-making device maker Tokyo Electron rose 1.62 percent to 25,410 yen after Intel reported robust earnings.
Nintendo was up 0.22 percent at 43,630 yen while Honda fell 1.29 percent to 2,968 yen.
