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Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday, extending rallies on Wall Street, though investors were cautious over a historic summit between the US and North Korea.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.73% or 167.32 points to 22 971.36 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.63% or 11.19 points at 1 798.03.
"The stocks this week will face a series of events... namely the US-North Korea summit and central bank meetings in Japan, the US and Europe," Masayuki Toshida, senior market analyst at Rakuten Securities, said in a commentary.
"In addition, worries over trade frictions caused by protectionist US economic policy still linger," he said.
The direction of the market - which is upward so far - could change dramatically depending on developments from these important events, he said.
Just hours ahead of his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump tweeted that meetings between "staffs and representatives are going well and quickly.... but in the end, that doesn't matter."
"We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!"
Trump met Kim on Tuesday for a handshake and the pair are set for hours of meetings that were unthinkable just months ago.
In Tokyo, market heavyweight Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo casual clothing, was up 0.41 percent at ¥50 480.
Banks were higher, with Mitsubishi UFJ edging up 0.14% to ¥677.7 and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial up 0.13% at ¥4 548.
Toyota was down 0.28% at ¥7 471, Sony was down 0.45% at ¥5 484 and Nintendo was down 0.79% at ¥41 310.
The dollar fetched ¥110.33 in early Asian trade, against ¥110.02 in New York late on Monday.
Global equity markets rose on Monday as traders brushed off a chaotic Group of Seven meeting to focus instead on the Trump-Kim summit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up less than 0.1% at 25 322.31.
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