Tokyo stocks close higher after sales tax delay report

TOKYO (May 16): Tokyo stocks closed higher Monday as investors cheered a report that Japan's government may postpone a sales tax rise to avoid damaging an already fragile economy.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to delay the consumption tax hike for a second time, after an earlier rise pushed Japan into recession, the Nikkei business daily said at the weekend.

Markets are keeping tabs on the release of Japan's first-quarter economic growth data Wednesday, with a contraction tipping the world's number three economy into another recession.

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