Japanese stocks soar amid wary optimism on trade talks

TOKYO, Nov 22- Japanese shares inched higher on Friday as the possibility of United States and China sealing a trade deal reduced risk appetite.

Nikkei index gained 0.61% to 23, 178.77 at exactly 0150 GMT. The rise was heavily brought by earnings of IT and industrial equipment sectors.

China and the United States were still in close communication with each other in hopes of reaching an initial trade agreement, according to Chinese commerce ministry on Thursday with an intention of reducing market anxiety.

China invited top US negotiators for another session of face-to-face discussion in Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The said meeting was intended to arrange talks before Thanks giving holiday in the US.

Completion of phase one could slide up until next year as Beijing consistently demands for an extensive US tariff rollback which heavily impacted its economy, according to trade veterans and people with inside connections to the White House.

From previous session, Nikkei hit 0.77% loss, the biggest decline since Oct. 4, as reemerging concerns between US-China relations brought possible diplomatic division.

A total of 173 gainers and 41 decliners were recorded on Friday.

Top index earners were Internet service provider Z Holdings Corp, materials manufacturer Asahi Kasei Corp, and Kobe Steel Ltd with 3.95%, 2.95%, 2.36% respective gains.

Z Holdings, formerly known as Yahoo Japan, boosted following its plan of merging with messaging app operator Line Corp.

Top decliners were Rakuten Inc. with 1.86% setback, Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co Ltd with 1.76% loss, and Suzuki Motor Corp which shed 1.4%.

The Topix index increased up to 0.53% to 1,698.25, recording a 0.1% weekly earning.

0.47 billion volume of shares was traded on Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board, compared with 1.27 billion from the past 30 days.