Tokyo's Nikkei index inches up as N. Korea fears ease

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.13 percent, or 30.30 points, to close at 22,481.09 but the broader Topix index was down 0.07 percent, or 1.28 points, at 1,770.42.

Investors welcomed renewed hopes for US President Donald Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, when Trump appeared to do a U-turn 24 hours after cancelling the meeting.

US and North Korean officials met Sunday at a border truce village as preparations resumed for the meeting, originally scheduled for June 12.

"Excessive worries receded as efforts resumed for a summit between the US and North Korea," Okasan Online Securities strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary.

"However active trading is not expected as there still remains uncertainty."

Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities, also said: "We still can't predict what will happen next before the summit. We need to watch the issue closely for now."

Monday trade was thin because of a lack of foreign investors as bourses in London and New York were to close for public holidays on Monday, analysts said.

Sony jumped 2.00 percent to 5,183 yen, Hitachi climbed 0.73 percent to 825.7 yen and manufacturer of chip-making equipment Tokyo Electron rose 0.35 percent to 21,405 yen after the Nasdaq ended up in New York on Friday.

But the auto sector remained under selling pressure over lingering fears that Trump could impose tariffs of 25 percent on car imports.

Toyota fell 0.88 percent to 7,052 yen and Nissan was down 0.71 percent at 1,108 yen.

The dollar fetched 109.53 yen in Asian afternoon trade, up slightly from 109.40 yen in New York late Friday.

On Wall Street, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 percent Friday to close at 24,753.09, and the broader S&P 500 lost the same amount to end at 2,721.33.

But chipmakers lifted the Nasdaq by 0.1 percent to finish at 7,433.85.