Tokyo stocks open flat as investors await US-Japan summit
Tokyo stocks opened flat Tuesday as investors retreated to the sidelines to await the outcome of a US-Japan summit expected to be dominated by trade tensions and North Korea.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 inched up 0.04 percent or 7.89 points to 21,843.42 in early trade, while the broader Topix was down 0.06 percent or 1.03 points at 1,735.19.
Traders "want to see if the Japan-US summit will be a success," Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to head to the US later Tuesday for talks with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Investors are watching Trump's remarks on US trade with Japan and its currency after the dollar slipped on the president's statements on Twitter accusing Russia and China of "playing the Currency Devaluation game."
Japan is among the nations on the US watchlist of countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange policies as the Treasury released a semi-annual report to Congress last week.
Any appreciation of the yen could hurt Japanese exports.
The dollar was trading at 107.05 yen against 107.11 yen in New York Monday afternoon.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. rallied 1.62 percent to 437 yen on expectations that an anti-nuclear local governor will step down in a boost to restarting a major atomic power plant in his prefecture.
Nissan rose 0.13 percent to 1,130.5 yen following a fresh report that it was in talks with its alliance partner Renault about a merger.
SoftBank was down 0.20 percent at 7,981 yen after media reports that it was among several bidders for US publishing group Tronc.