TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday despite falls on Wall Street over lingering uncertainties about the fast-spreading Omicron variant, with investors focused on corporate earnings reports.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.22 percent or 59.83 points at 27,308.70 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.25 percent or 4.84 points at 1,930.83.

"The upper limit of Japanese shares are likely to be capped" by worries over worsening business sentiment, Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

However, bargain-hunting purchases of shares with sound corporate earnings continue, it added.

The dollar fetched 115.16 yen in early Asian trade, against 115.10 yen in New York late Monday.

Tokyo stocks reverse losses to end higher

Toshiba was down 1.63 percent at 4,722 yen after it unveiled plans to split into two companies, revising a controversial proposal to divide into three following a tumultuous period for the storied industrial conglomerate.

SoftBank Group was up 0.63 percent at 5,384 yen ahead of its third-quarter earnings report and after the Financial Times reported the investment giant's $66 billion sale of UK-based chip business Arm to Nvidia collapsed on Monday due to fair trade authority concerns.

Nissan was up 1.30 percent at 606.7 yen after a report said the automaker will end most development of new gasoline engines.

Its bigger rivals were also higher, with Toyota trading up 1.10 percent at 2,300.5 yen and Honda up 0.65 percent at 3,425 yen.

Japan's household spending dipped 0.7 percent in December from a year earlier, while the spending for 2021 was up 0.7 percent, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell. The data did not prompt any strong market reactions.