ZCZC
BCN-06
STOCKS-MARKETS-JAPAN-OPEN
Tokyo stocks open higher on Wall St gains, weaker yen
TOKYO, Sept 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Tokyo stocks opened sharply higher on
Friday with sentiment boosted by gains on Wall Street and a weak yen.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.15 percent or 274.77 points to
24,071.51 in early trade while the Topix index was up 1.02 percent or 18.41
points at 1,818.52.
The bullish opening came after Wall Street stocks advanced and the dollar
rose on confidence in the US economy.
“Buying will likely beat selling after US stocks rebounded… Investors
will likely hunt exporter stocks given the yen has weakened against the
dollar,” it said in a commentary.
A cheaper yen brightens outlooks for exporters as it inflates their
overseas profits when repatriated.
The dollar was changing hands at 113.39 yen, unchanged from New York
Thursday afternoon but up from the mid-112 yen range seen when Tokyo markets
closed the previous day.
SBI added Tokyo trading could slow later Friday as the day marks the
closure of the week, month and April-September first half of business year
for Japanese companies.
In individual stocks trade, IT investor SoftBank Group jumped 3.15 percent
to 11,305 yen, Sony went up 2.45 percent to 6,828 yen and Nintendo climbed
1.18 percent to 41,310 yen.
Panasonic, which supplies battery cells to electric carmaker Tesla Motors,
fell 1.38 percent to 1,318.5 yen.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged Tesla CEO
Elon Musk with securities fraud, alleging he had misled investors last month
in tweets about taking the company private.
BSS/AFP/HR/0928