Tokyo stocks open higher ahead of holiday season

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher Thursday supported by hopes for a post-Brexit deal and rallies in US key indices, with trade subdued ahead of Christmas holidays in overseas markets.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.53 percent, or 139.77 points, to 26,664.56 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.57 percent, or 10.13 points, at 1,775.34.

"Japanese shares are seen led by purchases following a rebound in the Dow in New York, but active buying moves will be limited ahead of year-end holidays," Mizuho Securities said in a commentary.

The dollar fetched 103.57 yen in early Asian trade, against 103.53 yen in New York.

The British pound remained high, changing hands at $1.3515, flat from levels in New York, as the European Commission warned early Thursday that efforts to finalise a post-Brexit trade pact would last through the night.

Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher, shrugging off a batch of largely weak economic data and comments from US President Donald Trump that risked derailing a giant economic relief package.

The Dow ended up 0.4 percent to 30,129.83 and the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.1 percent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 0.3 percent.

In Tokyo, engineering firm Kawasaki Heavy rallied 4.9 percent to 2,162 yen after a brokerage firm revised up its evaluation of the company's shares.

Some other exporters were also higher, with Panasonic trading up 0.86 percent at 1,169 yen, Hitachi up 1.02 percent at 4,047 yen and Canon up 1.12 percent at 2,029 yen.