Tokyo stocks open 0.62 percent up

Tokyo: Tokyo shares opened up 0.62 percent today after Wall Street closed higher on late buybacks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which tumbled 2.31 percent to close at a 29-month low yesterday, opened up 53.07 points at 8,588.74.

Investors are likely to buy back shares following yesterday’s sell-off in the absence of additional headlines showing further deterioration of the Greek debt crisis, said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

But investors are unlikely to push the index much higher because Greece-related concerns remain, Hirano told Dow Jones Newswires. “Nothing has fundamentally changed,” he said.

Wall Street posted a last-minute rally yesterday despite falls in Asia and Europe.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.63 percent, while the broader S&P 500 climbed 0.70 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.10 percent, rebounding from steep initial losses.

The rebound was triggered by a report in the Financial Times that China was in talks to buy Italian government bonds and optimism that stocks might be oversold amid overblown fears of a global economic slowdown, brokers said.

The euro fetched $1.3640 in early Asian trade today, slightly down from $1.3680 in New York late yesterday.

The common European currency was at 105.32 yen against 105.56 in New York after falling below 104.00 to hit a new 10-year low.

The dollar edged up to 77.23 yen from 77.15.

PTI