Tokyo shares moved higher in thin trading Thursday morning, just hours before the start of Britain's knife-edge vote on its future in the European Union. Traders shrugged off a negative lead from Wall Street, but many kept on the sidelines as sentiment takes a hit from fears that a win by the "Leave" camp will wreak havoc in financial markets. Most polls earlier this week showed gains for the "Remain" camp that some attributed as a reaction to the killing of a British pro-EU lawmaker last week.
"Public opinion polls keep changing," Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, told Bloomberg News. "There are going to be very few investors today who feel able to trade, so it's hard to get a clear direction in the market." The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 0.48 percent, or 77.52 points, to 16,143.24 by the break, rebounding from a drop the previous day. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 0.39 percent, or 5.05 points, to 1,289.66.
Sharp shares jumped eight percent to 135 yen as the ailing firm's investors are expected to approve a deal to be acquired by Taiwan's Hon Hai, the world's biggest electronics supplier. On Wednesday, Hon Hai - also known as Foxconn - said it would close some of Sharp's overseas operations and shake up the century-old company to get its battered finances in shape.
In forex markets, the dollar rose to 104.63 yen from 104.51 yen Wednesday in New York, lifting the outlook for Japanese exporters' profitability. The pound rose to $1.4798 from $1.4737 in the US, after briefly hitting a high for this year at $1.4844. Toyota shares added 0.65 percent to 5,644 yen and industrial robot maker Fanuc jumped 1.62 percent to 16,260 yen. Energy explorer Inpex advanced 0.59 percent to 858.7 yen, while refiner JX Holdings eased 0.38 percent to 410.6 yen.