Tokyo stocks open higher on Wall St. gains, bargain-hunting

Tokyo stocks opened slightly higher Friday, supported by Wall Street gains overnight and bargain-hunting after the Nikkei index fell sharply over the past two trading days.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average rose 40.35 points, or 0.15 percent, from Thursday to 27,512.98. The broader Topix index was up 3.36 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,964.64.

Gainers were led by bank, marine transportation and precision instrument shares.

At 9 a.m., the U.S. dollar fetched 131.67-68 yen compared with 131.72-82 yen in New York and 131.35-38 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday. T...