/www.fxserver.com/ TOKYO - Tokyo stocks advanced Thursday morning after selected gains by U.S. technology shares and a revival in activity on the local market the previous day. The dollar was unchanged against the yen.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 65.15 points, or 0.67 percent, at 9,680.49. The benchmark climbed 129.37 points, or 1.36 percent on Wednesday.
On the Tokyo foreign exchange market, the dollar was trading at 118.86 yen at 11 a.m., unchanged from late Wednesday in Tokyo but lower than the 118.91 yen it bought in New York late Wednesday.
Traders said Thursday's gains would likely be modest as many investors are on the sidelines to await Sony's quarterly earnings announcement, which was due after the market closes.
NEC and Toshiba rose in the morning session, as did semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Advantest. Sony was down 20 yen, or 0.53 percent, to 3,770 yen at midday.
In New York Wednesday, strong profits from Eastman Kodak and Amazon.com gave a boost to the Dow Jones industrials and Nasdaq composite. The Dow closed up 35.79, or 0.4 percent, at 9,194.24, while the Nasdaq rose 13.08, or 0.8 percent, to 1,719.18.
Still, weaker-than-expected earnings from Sun Microsystems weighed on the Standard & Poor's 500 index, and traders said the market was volatile as investors searched for authoritative evidence of a resurging economy. The S&P 500 inched up 0.50, or 0.1 percent, to 988.61.
In Tokyo Thursday, the broader Tokyo Stock Price Index rose 5.52 points, or 0.59 percent, to 946.78 at midday. The TOPIX, which includes more than 1,000 of Japan's largest companies, climbed 13.08 points, or 1.41 percent, on Wednesday.
In currency trading, the euro bought $1.1474 late Thursday morning in Tokyo, up from $1.1388 late Wednesday. Against the yen, the euro was quoted at 136.33 yen, up from 135.32 yen.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose to 0.9850 Thursday morning from 0.9550 percent late Wednesday. Its price stood fell to 99.23 from 99.45 points Wednesday.