TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened marginally higher on Thursday supported by rallies on US key indexes, with investors remaining cautious ahead of the ECB monetary decision.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up just 0.05 percent or 13.77 points at 29,050.33 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.01 percent or 0.22 points at 1,919.96.

"Even though a wait-and-see attitude may grow ahead of the ECB board meeting this evening, risk-on sentiment is intact as the Dow in New York hit a fresh record," Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.However, a decline in the US tech-rich Nasdaq index was weighing on high-tech shares in Japan, analysts added.

The dollar fetched 108.43 yen in early Asian trade, against 108.38 yen in New York late Wednesday.

Among major shares in Tokyo, shipping firm Nippon Yusen rallied 4.92 percent to 3,305 yen and Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 1.54 percent at 93,160 yen.

Sony was down 0.50 percent at 10,945 yen and Panasonic was off 1.80 percent at 1,308.5 yen.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 1.5 percent at 32,297.02 and the broad-based S&P closed up 0.6 percent but the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 13,068.83.