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Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, taking a positive lead from Wall Street, while investors remained cautious about the impact of US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.32% or 70.82 points to 22 479.70 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.22% or 3.91% at 1 776.82.
"The Iran nuclear issue has been factored in for now," said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.
"But we need to continue paying attention as the issue may drag on for a long time," Sato told AFP.
Wall Street stocks rose on Wednesday, with energy shares boosted by higher oil prices and banking shares advancing on expectations of increased interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8% while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.0%, with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index up 1.0%.
The dollar edged up to ¥109.74 early on Thursday from ¥109.72 in New York late on Wednesday.
In Tokyo, petroleum-linked shares enjoyed a strong session after President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal.
Inpex jumped 2.56% to ¥1 438 and JXTG holdings gained 0.91% to ¥715.9.
SoftBank fell 0.65% to 8 496 despite the company announcing a record operating profit for the past fiscal year.
Analysts say the firm's complex structure makes its earnings difficult to interpret, though the results were in line with expectations.
Toyota rose 1.52% to ¥7 537 as buying sentiment remained strong after the firm announced a record annual net profit.
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