Tokyo stocks open higher with eyes on Japan-US summit

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday tracking rallies on Wall Street where high-tech shares led the gains, with investors eyeing a US-Japan summit later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.47 percent or 138.10 points at 29,780.79 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.19 percent or 3.78 points to 1,962.91.

"Japanese shares are seen rising supported by rallies in US stocks," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note.

Investors will however gradually move to a wait-and-see attitude ahead of a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden, analysts added.

The dollar fetched 108.66 yen in early Asian trade, against 108.72 yen in New York late Thursday.

Among major shares in Tokyo, Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 1.26 percent at 90,930 yen and IT firm Fujitsu was up 1.73 percent at 16,500 yen.

Toshiba dropped 4.29 percent to 4,685 yen after reports said the Japanese company is set to reject a buyout offer from a private equity fund.

Semiconductor-linked shares were among the winners, with chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron trading up 0.94 percent at 49,400 yen and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest up 1.05 percent at 10,600 yen.

On Wall Street, stocks shot to fresh records on blowout earnings from large banks and strong US economic data.

The Dow climbed 0.9 percent to a record 34,035.99 and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent also ending at a record, while the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 1.3 percent.