Tokyo stocks open higher with investors seeking optimism

Tokyo stocks opened slightly higher Monday as investors looked beyond negative news such as a drop in oil prices and the US-led trade war, and searched for fresh trading clues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.44 percent or 94.93 points to 21,741.48 in early trading, while the broader Topix index was firmer by 0.07 percent or 1.17 points at 1,630.13.

Wall Street stocks fell on Friday as a sharp drop in oil prices sparked global growth worries.

But "the demand-supply balance is improving and by now investors have digested this negative news that has pushed share prices down in recent days," Kyoko Amemiya, senior market advisor at SBI Securities, told AFP.

Some investors are already shifting their focus to the year-end shopping spree, she added.

The dollar was trading at 112.92 yen in early Asian trade, against 112.90 yen in New York on Friday.

In Tokyo, game giant Nintendo was up 2.89 percent at 32,320 yen and Bridgestone was up 2.34 percent at 4,508 yen.

Nissan rose 0.49 percent to 966.3 yen as its president prepared to speak to employees about its former chairman Carlos Ghosn's arrest.

Its smaller group firm Mitsubishi Motors was up 1.18 percent at 682 yen ahead of its emergency board meeting, which is widely expected to sack Ghosn as chairman.

With oil prices tumbling, oil-linked shares were down. Developer Inpex dropped 3.91 percent to 1,149.5 yen and distributor Showa Shell Sekiyu was lower by 3.34 percent at 1,618 yen.

On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow finished down 0.7 percent at 24,285.95.