TOKYO: Tokyo stocks are slightly higher in early trade, shrugging off drops on Wall Street and a lull in the dollar’s rise against the yen.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which on Friday ended above 19,000 points for the first time in 15 years, added 0.25 per cent, or 47.72 points, to 19,301.97 in the first few minutes of trade on Monday.
Tokyo stocks have been gaining ground on expectations for higher corporate earnings and wages as well as the Bank of Japan’s super-easy monetary policy.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.82 per cent ON Friday on renewed anxiety over falling oil prices and the rising US dollar.
The dollar has been lifted by expectations of a Fed hike of near-zero interest rates some time this year, a sharp contrast to a rash of rate cuts and stimulus by other central banks.
The greenback scored a fresh 12-year high of $US1.0451 on the euro early Monday.
It later came off slightly to $US1.0488 compared with $US1.0489 in New York late Friday.
