TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, extending gains on Wall Street as US congressional Republicans offered a compromise in high-stakes talks on lifting the US debt limit.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.56 percent or 153.81 points at 27,682.68 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.30 percent or 5.77 points to 1,947.68.
Wall Street stocks finished modestly higher after trading in the red most of the session as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would allow Democrats to vote for temporarily lifting the ceiling on how much the government can borrow.
The move has "gone a little way to alleviating" concerns linked to the looming deadline for lifting or scrapping the US debt ceiling, which has been plaguing global markets, said strategist Ray Attrill of National Australia Bank in a note.
Declines in oil prices also eased worries over costs for Japanese blue-chip companies, analysts added.
The dollar fetched 111.39 yen in early Asian trade, against 111.41 yen in New York late Wednesday.
Among major shares in Tokyo, Sony was up 0.69 percent at 11,705 yen, Toyota was up 1.01 percent at 1,858.5 yen, and Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing advanced 1.10 percent to 71,300 yen.
Japan Post dropped 3.08 percent to 898 yen after the government announced it would sell a stake worth approximately 950 billion yen ($8.5 billion) in the postal services giant.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.3 percent at 34,416.99.
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