Tokyo stocks close higher – Post (subscription)

REUTERS

A man looks at his watch as he passes an electronic board displaying a graph of currency rates outside a brokerage in Tokyo.

Tokyo – Tokyo shares closed 1.37 percent higher on Monday after the dollar extended its gains despite a Wall Street sell off at the end of last week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended up 184.06 points at 13,572.92 while the Topix index of all first-section issues rose 1.06 percent, or 11.73 points, to 1,117.78.

Trading volume was light as the US stock market is closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

“The situation in Syria does not look likely to be addressed (for) at least a week, as public opinion polls look essentially divided and Congress will be asked to make a decision before any action is taken,” said CLSA equity strategist Nicholas Smith.

US President Barack Obama has threatened a military strike on Syria pending a vote in Congress. US lawmakers are to return from recess on September 9.

“Meanwhile, global… manufacturing data, across a very broad base of nations – particularly the latest figures from China – appear to be lining up firmly in the positive, boosting the case for global trade rebound,” Smith told Dow Jones Newswires.

The dollar was also higher against the yen, boosting Japanese exporters as a lower yen makes their products more competitive abroad while increasing repatriated income.

The dollar was at 98.63 yen in Tokyo trade from 98.16 yen in New York Friday afternoon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.21 percent to 14,810.31 on Friday.

Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, rose 1.60 percent to 508 yen, recovering from earlier losses over higher radiation readings at hotspots and a new discovery of toxic water dripping from a pipe connecting two coolant tanks.

Oil-related stocks underperformed because of falling crude prices with oil explorer Inpex down 1.23 percent at 440,000 yen. – Sapa-AFP