Tokyo stocks open lower as investors await Trump inauguration

Tokyo stocks opened lower Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Takata shares were untraded with sell orders overwhelming buying bids as investors sought to dump the stock after Thursday's 17 percent dive.

Heavy selling hit the troubled airbag maker after the Nikkei business daily reported that two rival suitors are set to propose bankruptcy restructuring plans for the company at the centre of the biggest-ever auto safety recall.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.11 percent, or 20.66 points, to 19,051.59 in the first few minutes of trade while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.08 percent, or 1.16 points, to 1,526.99.

Investors were trading cautiously ahead of Trump's inauguration speech later in the day which they hope will offer clues on his economic and trade policies.

"While policy detail is unexpected in his inauguration speech, the focus of his speech will be closely watched," said Tapas Strickland, economist at National Australia Bank.

"If Trump emphasises protectionist trade policies then that could see some unwinding of the Trump rally. On the other hand, if he focuses on making 'America great again' through infrastructure spending then it is likely the market will react positively," he wrote in a note.

Toshiba rallied 1.11 percent to 245 yen after plunging 16 percent on Thursday on reports the conglomerate could book losses of as much as 700 billion yen ($6.1 billion) on its US nuclear power unit.

Kirin Holdings rose 1.52 percent to 1,899.5 yen after saying it was in talks with Heineken over the possible sale of its Brazilian operations.

The dollar was trading at 114.99 yen on Friday against 115.19 yen in New York on Thursday afternoon.