Tokyo stocks open higher with investors seeking fresh clues

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TOKYO, Nov 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Tokyo stocks opened slightly higher Monday
as investors looked beyond negative news such as a drop in oil prices and the
US-led trade war, and searched for fresh trading clues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.44 percent or 94.93 points to
21,741.48 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was firmer by 0.07
percent or 1.17 points at 1,630.13.

Wall Street stocks fell on Friday as a sharp drop in oil prices sparked
global growth worries.

But “the demand-supply balance is improving and by now investors have
digested this negative news that has pushed share prices down in recent
days,” Kyoko Amemiya, senior market advisor at SBI Securities, told AFP.

Some investors are already shifting their focus to the year-end shopping
spree, she added.

The dollar was trading at 112.92 yen in early Asian trade, against 112.90
yen in New York on Friday.

In Tokyo, game giant Nintendo was up 2.89 percent at 32,320 yen and
Bridgestone was up 2.34 percent at 4,508 yen.

Nissan rose 0.49 percent to 966.3 yen as its president prepared to speak to
employees about its former chairman Carlos Ghosn’s arrest.

Its smaller group firm Mitsubishi Motors was up 1.18 percent at 682 yen
ahead of its emergency board meeting, which is widely expected to sack Ghosn
as chairman.

With oil prices tumbling, oil-linked shares were down. Developer Inpex
dropped 3.91 percent to 1,149.5 yen and distributor Showa Shell Sekiyu was
lower by 3.34 percent at 1,618 yen.

On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow finished down 0.7 percent at 24,285.95.