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| - Tokyo's Nikkei index opened marginally higher Thursday as investors digested the signing of a trade agreement between the US and China that pushed Wall Street to record highs. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.13 percent or 31.74 points to 23,948.32, while the broader Topix index lost 0.01 percent or 0.14 points to 1,730.92 points. "The Tokyo market had expected the US-China deal. With the yen stopping its slide, we should see a mix of buying and selling," Okasan Online Securities said in a note. "Once a round of profit-taking subsides, the market might may start picking up again," it added. The dollar stood at 109.94 yen, firming from 109.90 yen in New York Wednesday. Investors cheered gains on Wall Street overnight, when the Dow and S&P closed at all-time highs, as the world's two largest economies agreed on the trade deal after almost two years of bitter disputes. Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader, said the agreement "marks a significant step in ending the frictions that have cast a dark cloud over global economic growth." "The main benefit to the deal is that the US and China frictions are unlikely to worsen in the coming months, so we have reached a peak tariff of sorts, and this will allow traders to... focus on other things," he said in a note. Among major shares, Sony rose 1.04 percent to 7,962 yen, while Uniqlo-operator Fast Retailing added 1.10 percent to 65,030 yen. Toyota added 0.08 percent to 7,678 yen. SoftBank Group fell 0.56 percent to 4,951 yen. Sports shoe maker Asics gained 5.24 percent to 1,748 yen, after reports that World Athletics may ban Nike's Vaporfly shoes in future competitions over fears they give runners an unfair edge. hih/sah/hg
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