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Tokyo and New York -Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday as the yen remained relatively weak with expectations for global economic recovery growing.
European shares rose on Tuesday as nervousness about the EU's political future receded, while the tech-rich Nasdaq finished at a fresh record with Apple reaching a new valuation threshold.
A solid US jobs report late last week further strengthened the odds that the Federal Reserve will stick to a planned course of two more interest rate hikes in 2017, seen as a positive for the dollar.
The greenback fetched 113.63 yen on Wednesday, slightly down from 114.04 yen in New York late Tuesday but higher than 113.97 yen the previous day in Asia.
"The depreciation of the yen could boost" the Nikkei index as post-French presidential election profit-taking movement Tuesday was modest, said Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito in a commentary.
A weaker yen is positive for Japanese shares as it increases the value of repatriated profits that firms earn overseas.
The Nikkei 225 index gained 0.25%, or 49.23 points to 19 892.23 in the first minute of trading, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 0.17%, or 2.61 points, to 1 584.38.
Tokyo stocks declined Tuesday as investors booked profits a day after pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French election pushed the Japanese market to a 17-month high.
In Wednesday trading, Toyota was up 0.39% at 6,159 yen ahead of its earnings report later Wednesday.
Suzuki Motor rose 1.02% at 4,906 yen, after a report said the company will invest some 100 billion yen ($88 million) in a new production line at one of its plants in India.
Softbank was up 0.96%, also ahead of its earnings release, and after a report it was close to announcing the fundraising close for its technology fund.
The Japanese telecoms giant said last year it hoped to raise as much as $100 billion for a new technology investment fund it has set up in partnership with Saudi Arabia.
The fundraising close will be announced as soon as next week, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Nasdaq finishes at a fresh record
In Europe, stock markets rose on Tuesday, as nervousness about the EU's political future receded, while the Nasdaq finished at a fresh record and Apple reached a new valuation threshold.
The Paris CAC 40 index ended the session 0.3% higher while Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.4% and London's FTSE-100 rose by 0.6%.
"The calming of political nerves saw stocks gain ground as volatility crumbled by the wayside," said London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler.
"An unwind of the profit-taking-based losses from Monday and some better economic data out of Germany helped European stocks nudge higher," the expert said.
US stocks were in positive territory much of the day, but late afternoon reports that North Korea plans another nuclear test hit equities at the end of the session, pushing both the Dow and S&P 500 into negative territory.
"Geopolitics is rearing its ugly head again," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York. "When we hear about nuclear tests, we certainly get concerned."
But the Nasdaq still climbed 0.3% to 6,120.59, its third-straight record.
Apple gained 0.6% to become the first company to close above $800 billion in market capitalization. Tesla Motors was another strong performer, winning 4.6%.
