JOIN USTokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday, extending rallies on Wall Street on optimism about the easing of coronavirus lockdowns and promising preliminary clinical results of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.65 per cent or 331.41 points at 20,465.14 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 1.44 per cent or 20.99 points to 1,480.28.
"Japanese shares are seen moving safely in positive territory on expectations for the development of vaccines for the new coronavirus," Mizuho Securities said in a commentary.
Investors are also watching corporate earnings reports, it said.
Among them are Mitsubishi Motors and engineering firm JGC Holdings, due to announce results after the closing bell, the brokerage firm said.
The dollar fetched 107.42 yen in early Asian trade, against 107.29 yen in New York on Monday.
In Tokyo, SoftBank Group was up 1.77 per cent at 4,703 yen after the firm reported record losses, as the coronavirus pandemic compounded woes caused by its investment in troubled office-sharing start-up WeWork.
Among other shares, Toyota was up 1.44 per cent at 6,347 yen, Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 2.68 per cent at 52,810 yen, and Takeda Pharmaceutical was up 1.86 per cent at 4,098 yen.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 3.9 per cent at 24,597.37.