Tokyo stocks open higher, Toshiba dives on loss report

Tokyo stocks opened higher Thursday as exporters won support from a drop in the yen, but Toshiba shares dived on reports of huge losses in its US nuclear power business.

In currency trading, the dollar rose to 114.75 yen Thursday from the 113-yen range a day earlier after investors took remarks by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen as signalling more interest rate hikes soon.

Yellen said on Wednesday that the US central bank is close to achieving its inflation and employment goals although any policy moves depend on the state of the world's top economy.

"The tone of Yellen's remarks appears to have gotten stronger, spurring expectations for a March rate hike," said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"The yen is back on its weakening trend and investors are likely to restore their interest in exporters," he told Bloomberg News.

A weaker yen is positive for Japanese exporters, and stirs demand for their shares, as it makes their products more competitive abroad and inflates the value of their repatriated profits.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.06 percent, or 199.61 points, to 19,093.98 in early trading while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 1.08 percent, or 16.42 points, at 1,530.28.

Toshiba dived 12.82 percent to 251.4 yen after Japan's leading business daily the Nikkei reported the troubled conglomerate could book losses of more than 500 billion yen ($4.4 billion) in its nuclear reactor business.

Toyota rose 1.38 percent to 6,830 yen and Canon rose 1.00 percent 3,312 yen.

Trading in Takata shares was suspended at the start following a report that two bidders are set to propose court-mediated rescue plans for the airbag maker at the centre of the auto industry's biggest safety recall.

Nintendo slipped 0.80 percent to 23,275 yen with investors shrugging off an announcement that it plans to launch its Super Mario Run smartphone game for Android OS in March.

The app has been available on Apple's iPhones since December as the videogame giant dips its toe into the mobile gaming market.

The firm also announced a new smartphone game called Fire Emblem Heroes.