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| - Tokyo stocks were lower Thursday morning, as profit-taking offset hopefulness spurred by positive vaccine news. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged down 0.18 percent or 47.46 points to 26,753.52 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.10 percent or 1.71 points at 1,775.68. "Purchases on hopes for development of new coronavirus vaccines and profit-taking sales are having a mixed effect on the market," Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito said. The dollar fetched 104.50 yen in early Asian trade against 104.41 yen in New York late Wednesday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the "fantastic" news that the UK's independent medicines regulator has approved a vaccine just 12 months after the pandemic began in China, while urging the public to remain cautious as England exited a four-week lockdown and re-imposed regional curbs. But European and US investors largely shrugged off the news, which was already baked into valuations, and the Tokyo markets followed suit. In Tokyo, automakers were higher following reports the Japanese government will ban new gasoline cars around the mid-2030s, with Honda trading up 0.72 percent at 3,069 yen and Toyota up 1.33 percent at 7,173 yen. Elsewhere, Sony was down 0.42 percent at 9,578 yen and Sharp was down 1.15 percent at 1,374 yen, while Canon was up 1.05 percent at 1,965.5 yen. Chip-linked shares were mixed with chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron rallying 1.85 percent to 37,530 yen while chip-testing equipment maker Advantest slipped 0.40 percent to 7,520 yen. On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.2 percent at 29,883.79 and the broader S&P closed up 0.2 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq ended down 0.1 percent. kh/sah/hg
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