Tokyo stocks open higher on US-China talk hopes

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TOKYO, Feb 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday,
supported by a solid performance on Wall Street and hopes for progress in US-
China trade talks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.28 percent or 60.10 points to
21,362.75 in early trade after two days of gains, while the broader Topix
index was up 0.23 percent or 3.75 points at 1,610.27.

“Japanese stocks are likely to chase higher prices thanks to solid US
shares and hopes that the US-China trade talks will make progress,” Okasan
Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a note.

Wall Street stocks scraped out narrow gains on Tuesday on strong Walmart
earnings and continued optimism over the trade talks which resumed in
Washington aimed at ending a damaging tariff war between the economic
superpowers.

US President Donald Trump said the talks were “going very well” but are
“very complex.”

The dollar firmed to 110.73 yen from 110.58 yen in New York Tuesday
afternoon.

In individual stocks trade, Honda jumped 2.18 percent to 3,080 yen after
announcing it would shut down its UK plant.

Mitsui and Co. rose 1.13 percent to 1,793.5 yen and Mitsubishi Corp. rose
0.88 percent to 3,221 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported that
leading Russian company Novatek asked the Japanese trading houses to invest
in a major Arctic LNG project.