JOIN USTokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday after US and European markets bounced back on optimism over post-lockdown economic activity.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 1.55 percent or 340.37 points to 22,335.41 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 1.34 percent or 20.69 points at 1,569.91.
US and European stocks rose on Monday as optimism over easing lockdowns outweighed fears of surging coronavirus infections.
"We expected that virus infection cases would rise again after lockdowns are lifted," said Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.
"The view that the (global) economy will stay on a gradual recovery path still holds -- unless we see drastic spikes in deaths or critically ill patients," he told AFP, adding markets had fallen too much recently on excessive pessimism.
But it was unknown whether stocks would keep up their run with key economic indicators coming up later this week such as the June US payrolls report on Thursday.
"Since expectations are high, markets are prone to disappointment," Sengoku said.
Investors shrugged off weak economic data released from Japan early Tuesday, including rising unemployment and poor factory production for May.
In individual stocks trade, NTT rose 1.01 percent to 2,529 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported the telecom group would enter the renewable energy market.
The group will invest more than 1 trillion yen ($9.3 billion) by 2030 to boost capacity and establish its own transmission network, the daily said.
SoftBank Group rallied 1.54 to 5,463 yen while Toyota rose 1.33 percent to 6,849 yen.
The dollar was trading at 107.57 yen in early Tokyo trade compared with 107.56 yen in New York Monday afternoon.