Tokyo stocks open higher with eyes on earnings

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday after a mixed close on Wall Street last week, as investors shifted their focus to Japan's corporate earnings season.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.21 percent or 60.04 points at 28,691.49 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.26 percent or 4.92 points at 1,861.56.

"Japanese shares are seen moving in a narrow range... while bargain-hunting activities will likely increase ahead of the quarterly corporate earnings season at home," said senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Online Securities.

The dollar fetched 103.78 yen in early Asian trade, against 103.79 yen in New York late Friday.

In Tokyo, Toshiba sky-rocketed 13.06 percent to 3,350 yen after confirming it will return to the prestigious first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Takeda Pharmaceutical rallied 4.01 percent to 3,731 yen after four days of declines on profit-taking.

Steel manufacturer Tokyo Tekko was down 1.20 percent at 2,050 after it cut its full-year profit forecast by 34 percent to 3.7 billion yen.

Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Friday as investors grappled with worries over new coronavirus strains while confidence in continued fiscal and monetary stimulus supported equities.

The Nasdaq edged to a fresh record, but both the Dow and S&P 500 retreated.

The Dow ended 0.6 percent lower at 30,996.98.