Tokyo stocks touch eight-month high in morning

Tokyo stocks were 0.18 percent higher in the morning session on Monday after touching their highest level in more than eight months on the yen’s drop against the euro. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 18.39 points to 10,148.22 by the break, after earlier hitting 10,172.64, its highest level since July. The Topix index of all first-section issues rose 0.28 percent, or 2.42 points, to 869.15. The Nikkei rallied after the euro briefly rose past 110 yen early Monday, Mizuho Securities senior technical analyst Yutaka Miura told Dow Jones Newswires. But investors were likely to take a break after the benchmark index’s 20 percent rally since the start of the year, he added. The dollar was hovering around 83.40 yen, almost unchanged from late Friday in New York. “Since the yen is still weaker, the (Nikkei) index is unlikely to face a big price adjustment,” Daiwa Securities senior market analyst Yumi Nishimura said. Lacklustre trading was expected ahead of Tuesday’s public holiday in Japan and concern about US housing data to be released later in the week, brokers said. Trading firm Marubeni was up 2.87 percent at 644 yen amid earlier reports the Japanese firm was in advanced talks to buy a stake in the massive Roy Hill iron-ore project in Western Australia. Shares in Fanuc, a leading factory automation systems maker, rose 2.36 percent to a near-record 15,560 yen thanks to the Japanese currency and its exposure to the booming smartphone industry. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat on Friday, inching down 0.03 percent to 13,232.62, with new US economic data failing to provide a clear guide to the outlook for the world’s biggest economy.