Tokyo stocks open higher on brisk business confidence

Tokyo stocks opened modestly higher on Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street as the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed business confidence hitting its highest level in a decade.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.16 percent, or 32.65 points, to 20,388.93 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.13 percent, or 2.21 points, at 1.676.96.

Ten minutes before the opening bell in Tokyo, the central bank's Tankan report -- a closely watched quarterly survey of more than 10,000 companies -- showed a reading of 22 among major manufacturers, the highest in 10 years.

The latest survey handily beat market expectations for a reading of 18.

The strong Tankan figures "should encourage investors to pick up ... individual shares that are expected to report good results" in their half-year earnings reports due this month, said Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities.

But worries over a national election later this month were weighing on the market, analysts said, with an upstart party led by the popular Governor of Tokyo seen making inroads into Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's majority.

The dollar fetched 112.64 yen in early Asian trade, modestly higher than 112.52 yen in New York on Friday.

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, shares in Nissan fell by as much as 5.38 percent in early trade, after it said late Friday it would temporarily halt some vehicle registrations in Japan.

It emerged that some employees inspecting the vehicles lacked the necessary certificates for cars bound for the Japanese market. The problem is likely to affect 21 models and thousands of individual vehicles.

Game giant Nintendo advanced 0.38 percent to 41.720 yen, Hitachi rose 0.22 percent to 794.7 yen and precision motors maker Nidec rose 0.47 percent to 13,885 yen.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 percent to 22,405.09 while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh record highs.