Tokyo stocks edged higher Tuesday morning as investors bought technology issues following gains in their U.S. counterparts on Wall Street. The dollar rose against the yen, but was trading lower against the euro.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues added 31.86 points, or 0.27 percent, to 11,664.06 points at the end of morning trade. On Monday, the Nikkei gained 78.64 points, or 0.68 percent, to close at 11,632.20 points -- its highest closing since July 2, 2004, when the index finished at 11,721.49.
The dollar was trading 105.36 yen at 11 a.m. Tuesday, up 0.38 yen from late Monday in Tokyo and above the 105.11 yen it bought in New York later that day.
On the stock market, morning gains were limited because of profit-taking from recent strength. Many players also took a wait-and-see stance ahead of Wednesday's release of Japan's October-December gross domestic product.
Canon Inc., Kyocera Corp. and Toshiba Corp. were among gainers.
In New York, U.S. stocks ended mixed Monday as investors reacted with indifference to Verizon Communications' $6.7 billion bid for MCI Inc.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 6.25, or 0.3 percent, to 2,082.91, but the Dow Jones industrial average fell 4.88, or 0.05 percent, to 10,791.13.
In Tokyo Tuesday morning, the broader TOPIX, which includes all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, rose 2 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,170.61 points. The TOPIX gained 7.91 points, or 0.68 percent, the day before.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2963 Tuesday morning in Tokyo from $1.2942 late Monday and to 136.54 yen from 135.78 yen.
The yield on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond slipped to 1.4300 percent from Monday's finish of 1.4400 percent. Its price rose 0.08 point to 98.87.