TOKYO: Tokyo stocks ticked higher Tuesday morning, recovering from an early sell-off as it emerged a powerful earthquake that triggered a tsunami along Japan's northeast coast caused limited damage.
The 6.9-magnitude tremor triggered waves along the coast including one of a metre (three feet) high that crashed ashore at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.
A spokesman for plant operator TEPCO said there was no damage but it rekindled memories of the 2011 crisis when a massive tsunami swamped some of the plant's reactors, triggering a meltdown.
TEPCO earlier reported that a water cooling system at a reactor in the separate Fukushima Daini facility had briefly stopped in an automatic response, but that it was back up and operating.
In early trade the yen rallied against the dollar as investors sought out safe haven assets, which in turn sent the Nikkei lower a day after it his a 10-month high.
But it became clear there was no crisis, confidence returned to the trading floor
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended the morning up 0.04 percent, or 6.41 points, at 18,112.43, while the Topix index of all first-section issues rose 0.20 percent, or 2.88 points, at 1,445.81.'
"The market opened with selling-led trade, but news that there was nothing abnormal at the nuclear plant relieved investors and helped the Nikkei index move into the positive territory," Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.
The yen also gave up its early gains. The dollar bought 110.76 yen, unchanged from late in New York.
The Japanese unit has tumbled since Donald Trump was elected US president as dealers expect him to push on with a huge infrastructure project and tax cuts that will likely send inflation soaring.
Energy firms led gains, as oil prices soared on hopes for a deal by OPEC to cut output. Inpex added 1.80 percent to 1,099 yen and Japan Petroleum Exploration jumped 2.79 percent to 2,465 yen.
But some major exporters were down, with Toyota sliding 0.97 percent to 6,297 yen and rival Honda off 0.37 percent at 3,174 yen.
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