Tokyo shares open higher

TOKYO: Tokyo shares opened higher Friday with investors heartened by positive US data despite a Japanese survey showing business confidence plunged in the months following the March earthquake and tsunami.

The headline Nikkei-225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened up 62.60 points at 9,878.69 after closing at a seven-week high the previous day.

In New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.25 percent to close at 12,414.34 after Greek lawmakers voted to implement a vital austerity plan and data showed business activity was up in the US industrial heartland of Chicago.

"Even as we saw improvement in Japan's supply chain, economic indicators had shown a sluggish recovery of US manufacturers. So the Chicago data is encouraging," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities.

But Takahashi added: "It's unclear how much of the upward trend (in shares) is due to the end of the month window-dressing, so we need to watch closely whether the gains are sustainable."

Japan's government issued a raft of economic data before the market opened, showing consumer prices rose more than expected in May while the jobless rate fell excluding disaster-hit areas.

The Bank of Japan's closely monitored quarterly Tankan survey showed business confidence among major manufacturers in June dropped to "minus nine" from "six" in March, logging the first negative reading in five quarters.

The Tankan survey was no major surprise and stocks could see profit-taking later Friday given rallies in the past few days, said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.

The euro edged down to $1.4475 in early Tokyo trade from $1.4499 in New York late Thursday, while holding steady at 116.85 yen.

The dollar changed hands at 80.68 yen, compared with 80.55 yen in New York.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011