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| - Tokyo stocks opened flat on Friday in cautious trade ahead of a long weekend, with investors factoring in a higher yen and falls on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.03 percent or 6.68 points at 23,326.05 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.04 percent or 0.72 points at 1,639.12. "As the Japanese market has already factored in declines in the US market, purchases are slightly more dominant than sell orders in early trade, but a wait-and-see attitude will likely grow later ahead of a four-day holiday," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst of Monex, said in a commentary. "Expectations for the new government of Yoshihide Suga are supporting" the downside as polls show high approval rates, Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito added. The dollar fetched 104.74 yen in early Asian trade, against 104.71 yen in New York and 104.99 yen in Tokyo afternoon hours on Thursday. In Tokyo, Toyota was up 0.73 percent at 7,072 yen, Takeda Pharmaceutical was up 0.56 percent at 3,972 yen and industrial robot maker Fanuc was up 0.91 percent at 20,565 yen. But Sony was down 0.23 percent at 8,191 yen and Nintendo was down 1.94 percent at 59,210 yen. Japan's core consumer prices that exclude fresh food fell 0.4 percent year-on-year in August, the first decline in the past three months, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell. On Wall Street, the Dow finished down 0.5 percent at 27,901.98. kh/sah/axn
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