Tokyo stocks open higher on US stimulus

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher Thursday following a mixed close on Wall Street, with investors mulling the effects of a $2-trillion US spending plan on the global market.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.95 percent or 277.13 points at 29,455.93 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.96 percent or 18.71 points to 1,972.71.

"Japanese shares are seen rebounding following US President Biden's infrastructure spending," Mizuho Securities said, referring to a $2-billion plan aimed at modernizing America's crumbling transport network.

Senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Securities warned however the Biden administration's stimulus can be interpreted as market-negative as it "is prompting a further rise in US yields" that could cause inflation.

The dollar fetched 110.71 yen in early Asian trade, unchanged from the level in New York late Wednesday.

In Tokyo, some financials were lower following recent announcements of losses linked to investment in a US client by Nomura Holdings and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial.

Nomura Holdings was down 0.41 percent at 579 yen, Shinsei Bank was off 0.78 percent at 1,775 yen and Mitsui Sumitomo Financial was down 0.61 percent at 3,982 yen. But Mitsubishi UFJ was up 0.73 percent at 596 yen after three days of declines.

Toshiba jumped 6.42 percent to 3,980 yen after reports that two US data-storage firms are separately exploring a potential deal for Japanese semiconductor company Kioxia, in which Toshiba holds a stake of around 40 percent.

Renesas Electronics jumped 3.66 percent after two days of rout following a fire last week at one of its plants.

Investors were also weighing the latest business confidence survey by the Bank of Japan, which showed further improvement after the pandemic hit the world's third-largest economy.

On Wall Street, the Dow shed 0.3 percent to close at 32,981.5, while the broad-based S&P gained 0.4 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 1.5 percent.