Tokyo stocks close higher on US-China trade talks

Tokyo stocks closed higher on Wednesday for the third session in a row, extending rallies of global bourses on signs of progress in US-China trade talks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 1.10 percent, or 223.02 points, to close at 20,427.06, while the broader Topix index was up 1.10 percent, or 16.68 points, at 1,535.11.

US President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday that US-China trade negotiations were going "very well" as officials held talks in Beijing that will spill into a third day.

A member of the US delegation said the two sides would resume talks on Wednesday as they continued their first face-to-face meetings since Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a tariff truce during a meeting in Argentina on December 1.

"Talks with China are going very well!" Trump said on Twitter, but gave no further information.

"Expectations for progress in US-China trade talks are supporting the market," while technical factors linked to the settlement of derivatives may prompt volatile trade, Kyoko Amemiya, senior market advisor of SBI Securities, told AFP.

"The risk-on mood triggered by the gains on the Chinese markets also helped buoy Tokyo stocks," Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

The dollar fetched 108.87 yen in Asian trade, against 108.79 yen in New York.

In Tokyo, Sony was up 0.68 percent to 5,413 yen and Panasonic jumped 3.20 percent to 1,045 yen.

Takeda Pharmaceutical climbed 2.81 percent to 4,200 yen and its rival Daiichi Sankyo jumped 3.03 percent to 3,672 yen.