Tokyo stocks close higher on US rallies

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday, extending rallies on Wall Street which shrugged off three days of slides as markets grapple with the risk of increasing inflation.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.78 percent or 219.58 points to end at 28,317.83, having advanced 0.83 percent over the week.

The broader Topix index was up 0.46 percent or 8.77 points at 1,904.69, growing 1.13 percent from a week before.

A rebound for bitcoin and improved US labour market data "helped rally US shares", which gave heart to investors in the Japanese market, said Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex.

In Tokyo trading, Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing climbed 1.08 percent to 86,630 yen ($796) while market heavyweight SoftBank Group inched up 0.05 percent to 8,505 yen.

Toyota rose 0.90 percent to 8,743 yen while Honda gained 0.51 percent to 3,309 yen. Nissan slid 0.37 percent to 528.1 yen.

JCR Pharma, which will produce AstraZeneca vaccines in Japan, plunged 5.03 percent to 3,205 yen after the health ministry approved the vaccine but said it would not use it immediately.

The government also formally approved the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Friday.

Japan's core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, was down 0.1 percent year-on-year in April, against market expectations for a 0.2 percent decline, according to government data, which did not prompt a strong reaction from the market.

The dollar fetched 108.70 yen in Asian trade, against 108.80 yen in New York late Thursday.