Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower Thursday as investors sold stocks to lock in profits amid uncertainties over the fate of the US government's financial bailout plan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 103.72 points in morning trading, or 0.86 per cent, to 12,011.31.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 10.52 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 1,157.45.

Tokyo players sold a wide range of issues amid concern about when the US Congress would pass a government plan to bail out distressed financial institutions.

Washington - Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain issued a joint statement late Wednesday on the ongoing financial crisis and proposed 
700-billion-dollar rescue plan to revive credit markets.

The American people are facing a moment of economic crisis. No matter how this began, we all have a responsibility to work through it and restore confidence in our economy. The jobs, savings, and prosperity of the American people are at stake," the two senators said.

With both majority Democrats and the US president's own Republican Party lining up against a mammoth 700-billion-dollar rescue plan for Wall Street, US President George Bush was to speak to the nation Wednesday evening (0100 GMT Thursday) to drum up support.

The escalating US financial crisis, which has frozen credit around the world, is now impacting the US presidential campaign, with Republican nominee John McCain, 72, suspending his campaign and heading back to Washington Thursday in a bid to break the legislative logjam.

Democratic nominee Obama said that he did not want to "confuse" Congress with presidential politics and would return to the Senate from the campaign trail only at the request of his Democratic Party's legislative leaders.

Washington  - US stocks were mixed on Wednesday with gains in high technology and a slower decline in blue chips and general stocks as gridlock continued in Washington over prompt passage of a week-old White House rescue plan for Wall Street.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress of "grave threats" facing the American economy and financial system, and of the consequences of failure to act.

Washington  - To Republican Senator Jim Bunning, it's "financial socialism" and "un-American."

To US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, it's the only way to rescue the country from certain economic collapse.

The White House's 700-billion-dollar rescue raft for Wall Street must navigate some challenging rapids in Congress as the proposal gets its first public airing this week.