By Stanley White
TOKYO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks bounced back from
early losses on Thursday, as optimism improved that the United
States and China can scale back their trade war at high-level
talks taking place later in the day.
At 0231 GMT, the Nikkei index was up 0.46% at 21,555.67,
after shedding as much as 0.7% earlier in the day.
Japanese shares got a boost after the New York Times
reported that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will
soon issue licences allowing some U.S. companies to supply
non-sensitive goods to Chinese telecommunications equipment
maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL . This could be seen as a concession to China that would make
it easier for the two economic power houses to resolve their
trade row.
Trump's administration effectively blacklisted Huawei in
mid-May, alleging it is involved in activities that compromise
national security, a charge the company denies.
Analysts, however, caution that a resolution to the bruising
year-long trade war is far from certain.
The South China Morning Post, citing unnamed sources, said
negotiators from the two countries had made no progress in trade
talks in Washington. The United States and China have slapped tariffs on each
other's goods in a dispute over Beijing's trade practices that
has already dragged on for 15 months.
Without significant progress, the United States is set to
hike the tariff rate on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods to
30% from 25% next Tuesday.
In Japan, there were 103 advancers on the Nikkei index
against 112 decliners on Thursday.
The largest percentage gainers on the index were Aeon Co Ltd
8267.T , up 6.91%, followed by AGC Inc 5201.T , which gained
2.63%, and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd 9107.T , up by 2.62%.
The largest percentage losers on the index were Haseko Corp
1808.T , down 2.27%, followed by Nikon Corp 7731.T , which
lost 1.97%, and Sekisui House Ltd 1928.T , down by 1.63%.
Asahi Kasei Corp's 3407.T shares rose 1.5% after Akira
Yoshino, an honorary fellow at the industrial goods maker, won
this year's Nobel Prize for chemistry. Yoshino shared the prize with two other scientists for
developing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which have
powered the revolution in smartphones, electric cars, and a host
of other gadgets.
The broader Topix index .TOPX fell 0.07% to 1,580.66.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.55 billion, compared to the average
1.21 billion yen in the past 30 days.
(Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)