Tokyo stocks marginally up by noon Friday, 25 November 2011 08:09

TOKYO: Tokyo shares were up 0.10 percent on Friday morning, propped up by bargain hunting after recent falls, brokers said.

 

The Nikkei-225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which closed Thursday at its lowest level since March 2009, edged up 8.13 points to 8,173.31 by the break.

 

The Topix index of all first-section issues was up 1.62 points or 0.23 percent at 707.70.

 

Bargain hunting in some inexpensive stocks helped support the market although concerns remain over European sovereign debt woes and the global economy, said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

 

"The outlook of the global economy is severe, but there are attractive individual stocks," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

 

Investors remained wary about how eurozone leaders plan to tackle the region's debt crisis.

 

German, French and Italian leaders pledged Thursday to propose modifications to European Union treaties to further integrate economic policy, but they played down suggestions that the European Central Bank would have a greater crisis-busting role.

 

"It is difficult to reconcile the interests of individual nations," said Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager at Chibagin Asset Management.

 

"It will likely take a while to get that done. Markets can be destabilised at every major redemption of sovereign bonds," he said.

 

A failed German bond auction earlier this week shook confidence in the safehaven status of Europe's biggest economy.

 

Scandal-hit Olympus saw its shares soar 20.70 percent to 1,230 yen on hopes for its management reform.

 

The camera and medical equipment maker's ex-chief and two other directors implicated in a loss cover-up scandal formally resigned from its board.(AFP)