Tokyo stocks open higher following Wall Street advance

Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday following gains on Wall Street last week as the US Federal Reserve chief signalled the central bank did not expect to accelerate interest rate increases.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.41 per cent or 92.76 points to 22,694.53 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.37 per cent or 6.31 points at 1,715.51.

"Market players responded positively now that the (US) stance on monetary policy has been made clear," Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary.

Speaking at the annual gathering of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday said there was no sign of an overheating economy and policymakers expected to continue interest rate increases gradually.

Prices were rising at about the Fed's target pace of two per cent, he said, signalling the US central bank does not expect to accelerate interest rate increases as some investors have feared.

All three major US indices pushed higher, with the S&P 500 notching its first closing record since January and the Nasdaq jumping 0.9 per cent to smash past a record set last month. 

On Monday the dollar crawled back to 111.30 yen from 111.21 yen in New York Friday afternoon.

In individual stocks trade, Toyota climbed 1.39 per cent to 6,925 yen after a weekend report by the Nikkei newspaper that the auto giant was planning to build a new factory in China.

Nintendo rose 0.76 per cent to 38,160 yen and IT investor SoftBank Group gained 1.38 per cent to 10,240 yen.