Tokyo stocks open higher, extending Wall St rallies

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday, extending rallies in New York as investors shrugged off trade war worries and focused on positive economic data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.62 percent, or 146.60 points, at 23,821.53 while the broader Topix index was up 0.58 percent, or 10.31 points, at 1,797.91.

The dollar fetched 112.48 yen in Asian trade, against 112.50 yen in New York and 112.32 yen in Tokyo Thursday afternoon.

Although the United States and China announced fresh tit-for-tat trade tariffs earlier in the week, global markets took heart in the fact that the actions were not as severe as they could have been.

"It's been another overnight risk-on session, US equities reaching new records, Treasury yields marginally higher, but the US (dollar) continues its retreat seen over recent days," David de Garis, an analyst at National Australia Bank, said in a commentary.

"Data released over the past 24 hours has been positive in New Zealand, Britain, and in the US adding some more support for the risk-on mood," he noted before the Tokyo market open.

Exporters were higher, with Toyota edging up 0.71 percent to 7.029 yen, Panasonic climbing 1.19 percent to 3,440 yen and Sharp trading up 0.38 percent at 2,366 yen.

Banks were also up, reflecting higher US yields, with Mitsubishi UFJ up 0.85 percent at 720.2 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rising 0.89 percent at 4,644 yen.

China-linked shares also gained, with construction machinery maker Komatsu rising 2.26 percent to 3,473 yen and chip and electronic parts maker Rohm up 1.23 percent at 8,210 yen.

In New York, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 powered to fresh records on Thursday, with the Dow closing up 1.0 percent at 26,656.98.