Tokyo stocks open higher on vaccine hopes

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday as investors took heart from rallies on Wall Street boosted by optimism over coronavirus vaccines and US fiscal stimulus.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.78 percent or 229.94 points at 29,893.44 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.45 percent or 8.55 points to 1,911.03.

"Hopes for expansion of vaccinations are growing" after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised Johnson & Johnson's Covid vaccine for emergency use, said Toshihiro Ito, senior strategist at Okasan Online Securities.

The single-shot J&J vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe Covid-19, including against newer variants, the FDA said before giving it the green light.

"A lull in (the rise in) 10-year US Treasury yields is also giving a sense of relief to the market," Ito added.

The dollar fetched 106.86 yen in early Asian trade, against 106.76 yen in New York late Monday.

In Tokyo, Panasonic was up 2.79 percent at 1,417.5 yen, Canon was up 1.68 percent at 2,334 yen, and industrial robot maker Fanuc was up 1.62 percent at 27,050 yen.

Japan's jobless rate stood at 2.9 percent in January, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month and slightly better than market consensus of 3.0 percent.

On Wall Street, major US indices surged with the Dow rallying 2.0 percent to end at 31,535.51.