Tokyo shares rise on hopes of easing in U.S.-China tensions

SYDNEY, May 8 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks rose on Friday, in
line with Wall Street's gains, as news about top trade
representatives of China and the United States holding a phone
call calmed investors worried about simmering tensions, with
cyclical shares leading gains.
The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 climbed 1.8% to
20,025.91 by the midday break. Earlier in the session, the index
rose as much as 2.1% to hit a one-week intraday high.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
agreed to strengthen macroeconomic and public health cooperation
along with creating a favourable environment to implement the
Phase 1 trade deal, China's commerce ministry said. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that top trade negotiators
from the United States and China will hold a phone call as early
as next week, citing sources. Meanwhile, Wall Street's indexes climbed on Thursday, with
the Nasdaq .IXIC advancing 1.4% to erase losses for 2020. .N
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index ESc1 was last quoted 1.1%
higher in Asian trade.
The broader Topix .TOPX gained 1.5% to 1,447.66 by the
midday recess, with all but one of the 33 sector sub-indexes on
the Tokyo exchange trading higher.
Highly cyclical iron and steel .ISTEL.T , sea transport
.ISHIP.T and non-ferrous metals .INFRO.T were the top three
performing sectors on the main bourse.
Nippon Steel Corp 5401.T and JFE Holdings Inc 5411.T
gained 4.1% and 4.3%, respectively. Nippon Yusen KK 9101.T
rose 3.3%.
Nintendo Co Ltd 7974.T tumbled 5.2% as investors took
profits after the company's fourth-quarter profit soared 200%
due to surging demand for its Switch games console and
popularity of its "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" title.
The Japanese gaming giant forecast a 22.7% fall in its net
profit for the current business year through March 2021, which
is widely viewed as "too conservative." Bucking the overall market, the index of Mothers start-up
shares .MTHR retreated 1.3%, after hitting a near three-month
high on Thursday, with biopharma AnGes Inc 4563.T diving
11.6%.