TOKYO, Feb 20, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Tokyo stocks opened higher for the second straight day Thursday helped by a cheaper yen and rallies on Wall Street as traders cheered a drop in new coronavirus cases in China.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 1.24 percent or 291.22 points to 23,691.92 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.93 percent or 15.48 points at 1,687.34.
“The external environment is favourable as global stocks rallied and the yen is rapidly depreciating against the dollar,” Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
“The cheaper yen can be interpreted as ‘selling Japan’ so it may not be good news for us to celebrate, but certainly it is supporting” the market, the analysts said.
However, the rally will be limited as concerns linger over the impact of the new coronavirus on the Japanese economy, even though cases in China appear to be on the decline.
The dollar fetched 111.15 yen in early Asian trade, against 111.29 yen in New York and 110.04 yen in Tokyo on Wednesday.
In Tokyo, electronics manufacturers were largely higher, with Sony rallying 2.38 percent to 7,546 yen, Panasonic gaining 1.64 percent to 1,203.5 yen, and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest trading up 1.42 percent at 5,710 yen.
Automakers were also among the winners, with Toyota trading up 1.81 percent at 7,689 yen add Honda up 2.35 percent at 3,045 yen.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.4 percent to 29,348.03.