Tokyo shares rally after surprise oil deal

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday after US and European markets rallied on a surprise deal by OPEC to cut oil production.

Officials from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meeting in Algiers, said they had reached an agreement to limit production, sparking a more than five percent rally in crude prices.

"OPEC's decision to curtail production wasn't expected," said Nobuyuki Fujimoto, a senior market analyst at SBI Securities.

"And now crude prices will likely head toward a range of $50 to $60 per barrel from $40 to $50 per barrel, which will ease global deflationary concerns," he told Bloomberg News.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.76 percent, or 125.28 points, to 16,590.68 in the first few minutes of trade.

The broader Topix rose 0.61 percent, or 8.11 points, to 1,338.88 with oil companies leading the advance.

Energy explorer Inpex rallied 6.64 percent.

In other trading, Hitachi was up 1.99 percent and Mitsubishi Heavy rose 1.59 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported the two companies are in final talks to integrate their nuclear fuel business with Toshiba.

Toshiba, which jumped nearly five percent on Wednesday over a higher profit outlook, fell back 1.59 percent.

On currency markets the dollar edged up to 100.95 yen early Thursday compared with 100.70 yen in New York late Wednesday.

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