Tokyo shares were sharply up in opening trade on Wednesday, tracking gains on European and US bourses on hopes for more stimulus measures from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB).
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 1.43 percent or 125.88 points to 8,929.19 in the first 30 minutes of trade.
"Hopes for more ECB easing in particular are realistic; something clearly must be done to help strapped borrowers like Spain and Italy, even though Germany is resistant," said Tachibana Securities market analyst Kenichi Hirano.
"Japan shares should continue to benefit from the general risk-on enthusiasm," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
European and US stocks posted gains for the third straight trading day on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 13,168.60, up 51.09 points, or 0.39 percent, as a Federal Reserve official called for more stimulus.
Currency rates hardly moved after Japan's finance ministry announced that Japan's current account surplus fell 45.0 percent in the first six months of 2012 from a year earlier because of higher energy imports.
The dollar was at 78.61 yen in early Tokyo trade against 78.59 yen in New York late Tuesday.
The euro slipped to $1.2383 from $1.2401 while edging down to 97.37 yen from 97.48 yen.
