Tokyo stocks open higher after US gains

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, extending a winning streak as risk appetite grows on investor confidence in the US economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.39% or 88.45 points to 22 882.64 in early trade after four days of gains, while the broader Topix index was up 0.15% or 2.64 points at 1 753.85.

The Nikkei "will rise towards 23 000 on the back of continued rises in US stocks and (dollar) exchange rates in the upper half of the ¥112 band," Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary.

Wall Street advanced on strong US earnings and upbeat comments by the head of the Federal Reserve.

The dollar held firm on Thursday, changing hands at ¥112.84 against ¥112.86 in New York on Wednesday.

• READ:Asia stocks mostly gain despite trade war fears

In semi-annual congressional testimony on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said US businesses were already being hurt by reciprocal tariffs on key products.

However, he repeated that if President Donald Trump's trade policy resulted in lower tariffs, that would be good for the US economy.

Powell also told a congressional panel on Tuesday that the US central bank remained on track to continue gradually raising interest rates amid solid US economic growth.

In Tokyo stocks trading, air-conditioner makers rose on growing demand as Japan experiences a heat wave. Hitachi rose 1.05% to ¥801.1 and Mitsubishi Electric jumped 2.19% to ¥1 467.

SoftBank Group fell 0.73% to ¥9 579 and Toyota was down 0.69% to ¥7 421.