Tokyo stocks open higher with eyes on US election

Analysts say that investors are awaiting US election results, which may be a few days to a few weeks later than usually expected

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday as investors factored in the rout last week in New York and shifted attention to the US presidential election and other market-moving events.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.61 percent or 139.86 points at 23,116.99 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 1.04 percent or 16.37 points to 1,595.70.

"Japanese shares are starting with gains as investors factored in falls in US shares," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a commentary.

Investors are waiting to see the results of the US presidential election on Tuesday, analysts said.

"Covid-19 infections and (the) prospect of new lockdowns is another theme that will keep investors preoccupied," Rodrigo Catril, senior strategist of National Australia Bank, added in a commentary, also noting the US Fed and BoE meetings this week and US non-farm payrolls due out on Friday.

The dollar fetched 104.56 yen in early Asian trade, against 104.67 yen in New York.

In Tokyo, Japan Airlines was up 2.09 percent at 1,855 yen after it said it had forecast an annual net loss of more than $2.3 billion after the coronavirus pandemic grounded air travel around the world.

Toyota was up 2.31 percent at 6,960 yen after a report said the automaker will boost output to record levels in the November-January period in response to robust demand in China and the US.

Sony was up 0.91 percent at 8,753 yen after a report said the company was in talks to acquire US animation distributor Crunchyroll from AT&T.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.6 percent at 26,501.60, the broader S&P closed down 1.2 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 2.5 percent.