Tuesday May 13, 02:32 AM
Tokyo shares firmer in early trade, tracking Wall Street's gains - UPDATE
TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese shares were higher in early trade on Tuesday following overnight gains on Wall Street after oil prices fell back and helped ease investor worries about inflation.
Local sentiment was also supported by Wall Street's positive reaction to the announcement by HSBC Holdings (0005.HK - news) that its first-quarter profits were up from a year ago, although the global banking company took a $3.2 billion write-down on subprime mortgage assets in the United States.
'The external environment -- easing oil prices and the (weaker) foreign exchange rate of the yen -- was calm, ' said Yumi Nishimura, manager for equity marketing at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
Light (LIGT3.SA - news) sweet crude oil for June delivery fell $1.73 to settle at $124.23 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday after hitting a new record trading high of $126.40 per barrel.
Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial Average closed up 130 .43 points or 1 percent at 12,876.31.
At 9:32 a.m. (0032 GMT), the Nikkei (news) 225 Stock Average was up 8.10 points or 0.06 percent at 13,751.46. The index opened with a gain of 71.03 points or 0.5 percent.
The broader Topix rose 3.93 points or 0.3 percent to 1,346.72.
The dollar was last quoted at 103.92 yen, up from 103.75-77 yen on 5 p.m. Monday.
Exporters were among the early gainers.
But Nishimura said 'gains are expected to be limited as the market may have already factored in some of today's performance during yesterday's late rally.'
'I'll be paying attention to any impact on the local market of a major earthquake in China when the Chinese markets open,' she said.
Major digital camera maker Nikon (Berlin: NKN.BE - news) advanced 6.5 percent to 3,020 yen, major construction machinery maker Komatsu (Berlin: KOM1.BE - news) rose 3.6 percent to 3,210 yen and consumer electronic giant Sony (Munich: 853687 - news) gained 2.2 percent at 4,750 yen. Nissan Motor climbed 2.4 percent to 952 yen.
Pioneer Corp (Munich: 857040 - news) . jumped 5.4 percent to 1,073 yen after the Nikkei newspaper said Japanese audio visual equipment maker said Monday it plans to cut roughly 2,000 jobs in Japan and abroad by the end of the fiscal 2008 as part of the restructuring of its plasma television operations.
($1 = 103.86 yen)
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