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| - Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, tracking rallies on global stocks after news of positive trial results for a drug used in treating the new coronavirus. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 1.61 percent or 319.23 points to 20,090.42 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 1.37 percent or 19.90 points at 1,469.05. The gains came after the Japanese market was closed for a public holiday Wednesday when both US and European stocks advanced after Gilead Sciences said that remdesivir, a drug being tested for use against coronavirus, showed positive results in a large-scale US government trial. "Japanese shares are supported by sharp rallies in US shares," while investors are also closely watching Chinese manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs (purchasing managers indexes) due later in the day, senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex said in a commentary. The dollar fetched 106.53 yen in early trade, against 106.66 yen in New York late Wednesday. Nintendo was down 2.05 percent at 45,270 yen after the US International Trade Commission said it will investigate issues raised by US-based Gamevice, which alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act involving the firm's patent. SoftBank Group was up 1.89 percent at 4,697 yen even as it revised down its full-year to March earnings forecast to a net loss of 900 billion yen ($8.5 billion) from the previous estimate of a 750 billion yen loss. Other blue-chip shares were largely higher. Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing rallied 3.86 percent to 50,890 yen and Toyota advanced 2.11 percent to 6,826 yen. On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 2.2 percent at 24,633.86. kh/sah/rma
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