Japanese shares inch higher on oil price retreat
By DPA, IANSThursday, February 24, 2011
TOKYO - Japanese stocks edged up in Friday morning trading on easing concerns about soaring oil prices amid unrest in Libya.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 22.97 points, or 0.22 percent, to trade at 10,475.68 while the broader Topix index was up 1.62 points, or 0.17 percent, at 935.84.
In New York, the price of crude oil fell 1.3 percent to $97.28 per barrel overnight, after breaching the $100 mark Wednesday and closing at its highest level since October 2008.
The Japanese government said Friday that the nation’s key consumer price index fell 0.2 percent in January from a year earlier, in the 23rd consecutive month of year-on-year decline.
On currency markets at 11 a.m. (0200 GMT), the dollar traded at 81.92-94 yen, up slightly from Thursday’s 5 p.m. quote of 81.86-87 yen.
The euro traded at $1.3818-3820, up from $1.3707-3708 Thursday, and at 113.21-26 yen, up from 112.21-25 yen.
