Tokyo stocks open higher on bargain-hunting buys

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday with bargain-hunting purchases making up for the negative impact from a higher yen.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.21% or 49.95 points at 23 519.34 while the broader Topix index was up 0.36% or 6.37 points at 1 767.49.

The dollar fetched ¥112.95 in early Asian trade, against ¥112.99 in New York and above ¥113 levels in Tokyo late on Tuesday.

"After four days of falling... Japanese shares are in a good place for bargain-hunting buys, even though a higher yen is somewhat weighing on the market," Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.

In Tokyo, automakers were higher with Toyota edging up 0.30% to ¥6 807 and Honda trading up 0.37% at ¥3 235.

Olympus was up 0.45% at ¥4 400 while market heavyweight and Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 0.53% at ¥58 740.

On Wall Street, the Dow closed down 0.2% at 26 430.57 as US shares faced another day of pressure over higher interest rates.