Tokyo stocks edge higher by break

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose Thursday morning but gains were tempered by a downgrade of first-quarter Japanese economic growth while traders await the result of Britain's general election.

Opinion polls are predicting a win for Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives, but a rally in recent weeks for the opposition Labour Party has led to concerns of a possible hung parliament leading to political uncertainty.

Congressional testimony from fired FBI chief James Comey into the Trump administration's Russia links, and a European Central Bank meeting were among the other key events in focus Thursday.

Shortly before markets opened, Japan the economy expanded 0.3 percent in January-March, down from a preliminary 0.5 percent growth estimate.

"Investor sentiment had been improving under the impression that Japan's first quarter was strong, but the latest data will have people rethinking that," Ayako Sera, a market strategist with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, told Bloomberg News.

"And we have a string of events tonight including the ECB meeting, Comey's live testimony and the UK vote which investors will want to check out."

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.05 percent, or 9.35 points, to 19,993.97 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues rose 0.07 percent, or 1.12 points, to 1,598.21.

US stocks shook off two days of declines to score modest gains, thanks to an advance by banking stocks.

Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 0.78 percent to 4,215 yen and rival Mitsubishi UFJ rose 0.83 percent to 720.5 yen.

Panasonic was up 1.01 percent at 1,487 yen and camera maker Olympus ticked 0.24 percent higher to 4,070 yen.

Energy shares were down after crude prices sank more than five percent Wednesday in response to data that showed an unexpected rise in US stockpiles.

Energy explorer Inpex fell 0.58 percent to 1,026.5 yen while refiner Idemitsu was down 0.93 percent to 3,210 yen.

The market won support from a rise in the dollar against the yen. The greenback bought 109.90 yen against 109.81 yen in New York.