Pharmaceuticals Astellas Pharma was down 0.48 percent at 1,648.5 yen, Chugai was down 0.86 percent at 5,787 yen and Shionogi was down 1.16 percent at 5,817 yen after brokerage firms downgraded their evaluation of its shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 21.0 points, or 0.07%, at the open to 30627.47 and the S&P 500 rose 8.5 points, or 0.23%, at the open to 3764.61.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 70.2 points, or 0.54%, to 12958.522 at the opening bell.
The New York Stock Exchange is expected to be in fourth spot with $32.2bn raised in IPO listings in 2020, followed by Shenzhen Stock Exchange with $18.5bn raised in IPO listings in 2020.
US soy processors crushed 181.018 million bushels of soybeans in November, their third-largest monthly crush on record, the National Oilseed Processors Association said.MARKET NEWS
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5%, with eyes on flash PMIs for December due in the morning session. Expectations are for a slight improvement in business activity over the previous month.
"If the coal issue with China is resolved early in the new year, it would relax the market in relation to other commodities that are exported to China," Smoling added.
The S&P 500 opened higher by 18.92 points, or 0.52pc, at 3,666.41, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 103.22 points, or 0.83pc, to 12,543.26 at the opening bell.