Tokyo stocks open higher on US rallies

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday extending rallies on Wall Street with investors focused on corporate earnings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.35 percent or 99.01 points at 28,296.43 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.16 percent or 3.00 points to 1,841.85.

"Japanese shares are seen starting with gains supported by US rallies, with eyes on earning reports" to be released later in the day, Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note.

The dollar fetched 104.39 yen in early Asian trade, against 104.26 yen in New York late Thursday.

Wall Street stocks staged a partial rebound from the prior session's rout, with the Dow finishing up 1.0 percent at 30,603.36.

In Tokyo, some exporters were higher, with Sony trading up 0.95 percent at 10,130 yen, electronic parts maker Murata Manufacturing up 0.91 percent at 10,490 yen, and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest up 1.18 percent at 8,550 yen.

ANA Holdings was down 1.21 percent at 2,247.5 yen ahead of its third quarter earnings report due after market close, with a report saying it is set to post about a 350 billion yen ($3.4 billion) operating loss for the nine months that ended in December.

Toshiba, which returned to the prestigious first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday more than three years after it was demoted to the second section, was trading down 0.87 percent at 3,400 yen.

Japan's jobless rate in December stood at 2.9 percent, flat from the previous month, according to the internal affairs ministry data released before the opening bell.