Tokyo stocks advance in morning on hopes for trade deal agreement

TOKYO, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks advanced Thursday morning, following a positive lead form Wall Street overnight, on renewed hopes a key interim trade deal between two major economies may be close to being reached.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 159.76 points, or 0.69 percent, from Wednesday to 23,294.99.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 5.94 points, or 0.35 percent, at 1,709.21.

Iron and steel, mining and nonferrous metal-linked issues comprised those that gained the most by the morning break. Enditem