how stocks are kicking off here in japan this wednesday morning, let's go to market reporter ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, ai. having a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and topix, marginal move higher, not but any great respect but positive in the first few minutes of trading. the nikkei managed to head higher after a fresh two and a half day low. today the stock index is higher but not any major moves. as we've been covering every single day this week the eurozone economies and the volatility playing into the stock bond and of course the currency markets and let's have a look at how the debt levels are with the yen against the euro and the dollar, the yen is holding against the euro at the lower 105 levels and around the upper 76 levels against the dollar. both these levels continue to be a little bit of a problem for japanese exporters with u.s. and european based economies. the biggest chunk of sales for japanese exporters, household names, sony, canon, nikon and if you factor in where japanese e

for details and how that's affecting tokyo stocks let's go to our market reporter ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. how is the market looking this tuesday morning? >> the dow having traded in the negative for most of the session rallied in the positive backing up by expectations china might buy some italian debt, easing concerns about eurozone economies. the nikkei and the topix a rebound for both indexes and stocks did hit some lows yesterday, so we're seeing some of those stocks actually bullying up the nikkei and the topix. the nikkei hasn't closed above 9,000 since september 1st and been caught up in the stronger yen throughout that period and weaker than expected manufacturing data out of the u.s. and this week further economic data, retail sales coming up and manufacturing data out of the new york and philadelphia manufacturing region so another one which is closely watched. still, europe does remain the main picture here and driving force for a lot of markets surrounding debt repayments by the likes of greece and also concerns about germany's involvements in helping

so for details and to see how markets are kicking off here in tokyo let's go to ramin mellegard, he's at the tokyo stock exchange. how are stocks looking at the open? >> reporter: good morning to you ai. a bit of a choppy open as you said. u.s. and european markets providing a bit of a relief after the vote from the german parliament to supply further bailout funds for weaker eurozone economies and that's had a lot of volatile sessions throughout this week based on the issues surrounding eurozone debt and also concerns now both in france and germany about that final exact amount needed for the bailout funds and on the political front, there's still some questions there, regardless of how the voting has gone. let's have a look at thepening levels here this friday morning, and you can see both indexes trading just a touch lower, not any major move, but just in the negative there. some fundamentals also in the u.s. market, which provide a short term boost as well as you mentioned there for the dow which had a pretty volatile session, we saw jobless claims actually dropping to its lowest

and to see how things are kicking off at the tokyo stock exchange, we cross over to ramin mellegard. good morning to you. markets not too impressed by the central bank's move. how are things looking at the open? >> very good morning to you. not impressed at all. the nikkei and the topix following that. having a look at the opening levels this thursday morning, the nikkei down by over 100 points and the topix down by almost 9 points. and that's reflecting the overall global sentiment by the move by the fed yesterday. after we used the words significant downside risk referring to the u.s. economy. the fed were expecting markets to extend the purchase of u.s. treasuries known as the operation twist after a similar move back in the '60s. but markets were also hoping for something a little extra, a twist and a turn, if you will, as the markets were saying that the fed's move was maybe not enough really to boost the economy after some of the steps that it's just taken. and the financial sector really reflected that. it was the heaviest hit sector in the u.s. we're going to be watching out

. >> that was ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> tokyo electric power company has begun sending out forms for people affected by the nuclear disaster to apply for compensation. similar forms have already been e-mailed to evacuees but tepco has become under fire for making the procedures complicated. a legal team was set up last month to help people affected by the crisis at the fukushima daiichi plant, since the volunteer lawyers started this counseling service last month they have received about 400 inquir inquiries. many were complaints the forms sent out by tepco were too complicated. other applicants say they're dissatisfied with the tilt's compensation terms. the company sent out some 7,000 forms on tuesday. the legal team says the utility's payment terms are negotiable and if applicants are unhappy with the offer they're given, they can take their case to a government organization that will mediate compensation disputes. >> translator: tepco has not explained that victims can take their case to the government organization that's been set up to settle disputes. we w

that was our market reporter ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. let's take a look at some other market figures. >>> that is all afor this hour n business. now back it catherine. >>> thank you, ai. >>> afghan president rabbani was killed in kabul tuesday evening. a major explosion occurred near rabbani's home before 6 p.m. local time. a government spokesperson told nhk that the perpetrator exploded a bomb he was carrying when he visited rabbani. he said the blast killed the former president. rabbani was elected president in 1992. he was ousted by the taliban when the islamist militant group took power four years later. rabbani's headed the country's high peace council said up by karzai to negotiate with the taliban. karzai is visiting the u.s. to attend a u.n. general assembly. his office said he will cut short his trip and return home np obama called rabbani's death a tragic loss. he also pledged continued is you pour for bringing stability to the country. >>> china expressed support for palestine's bid for full u.n. membership. >> translator: chi

that was ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> honda srling 210,000 subcompact cars worldwide due to faulty window switches. it will recall about 203,000 fit vehicles in the country produced between october 2005 and october 2007. more than 12,000 units of the fit aria manufactured by the thai subsidiary. it says soldering on the driver's side could melt and worst case could cause a fire. there are 260 problems with the switch in japan. fire broke out in eight of the cases causing minor burns to two people. honda will start replacing the switch free of charge from tuesday in japan. it says another 720,000 cars made in china, malaysia and other countries will also be recalled. >>> and now here's a recap of the latest market figures. that's all for now in business. now it's back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. >>> today "newsline" brings you part two in the series "9/11 defining a dead kad" about the al qaeda attacks against u.s. targets ten years ago. observers say following oma bin laden's death, al qaedaill weaken, but a man who says he worked for osama bin laden has a