Tokyo stocks open higher after Wall Street gains

Tokyo stocks opened higher in their last trading day of 2022, after Wall Street rebounded following gloomy sessions.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.74 percent, or 194.33 points, to 26,288.00 at the open, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.39 percent, or 7.39 points, to 1,902.66.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1 percent, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.8 percent.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.6 percent.

"Investors are heaving a sigh of relief... with stocks recovering much of the losses we've seen over the past few sessions," Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a note.

"The Japanese market is expected to start higher today, the last trading day of the year, on the back of higher US stocks," senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex said in a commentary.

The dollar traded at 132.82 yen, against 132.96 yen in New York.

In Tokyo, the market was boosted by semiconductor-related shares, with Advantest rising 1.54 percent to 8,570 yen and Tokyo Electron advancing 0.87 percent to 39,450 yen.

Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing added 0.44 percent to 79,350 yen while SoftBank Group firmed 1.17 percent to 5,684 yen.

Sony Group rose 0.69 percent to 10,185 yen.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Twitter, said that about 100 Starlink satellites provide internet support in Iran."Approaching 100 Starlinks active in Iran," the 51-yearold business magnate tweeted on Monday in response to images showing Iranian women walking outside with their hair uncovered, which is legally banned in the country.

Earlier, Musk said he would deploy Starlink satellites to allow demonstrators to communicate in Iran, amid continuing protests that erupted after the death of a young woman who was in the custody of morality police after allegedly violating the Islamic dress code.

Starlink, a satellite constellation operated by SpaceX, provides internet access with more than 3,300 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit to 45 countries. Monthslong protests hit Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of morality police this September.

Ten people died and around 40 others were injured when a fuel tanker exploded in Boksburg, a

South African city east of Johannesburg, emergency services said.

The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to a hospital and houses on Saturday morning.

"We received a call at 0750 telling us a gas tanker was stuck under a bridge. Firefighters were called to extinguish the flames. Unfortunately, the tanker exploded," William Ntladi, spokesman for the emergency services in the region, told AFP.

One of those injured was the driver who has been taken to hospital, he added.

He said the death toll had risen to 10 from the nine reported earlier.

Of those injured, around half were in a serious condition while 15 others were seriously hurt but in a stable condition.

Six firefighters also suffered minor injuries, Ntladi said.

Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too high to go under.

It was carrying 60,000 litres of LPG gas, which is used especially in cooking and gas stoves, and had come from the southeast of the country.