TOKYO, July 3 ― Tokyo stocks opened higher today, extending rallies on Wall Street as investors cheered a solid rebound in US employment and encouraging news about progress towards a coronavirus vaccine.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.64 per cent, or 142.62 points, at 22,288.58 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.61 per cent, or 9.40 points, to 1,552.16.

"Japanese shares are being supported by rallies in US stocks” after better-than-expected jobs data in the world's biggest economy, said Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex.

The US economy regained 4.8 million jobs in June as businesses began to reopen nationwide, while the unemployment rate fell more than two points to 11.1 per cent, the Labour Department reported.

The job creation amid the coronavirus pandemic was far higher than economists were expecting, and showed people returning to jobs in hard-hit sectors like leisure and hospitality, which accounted for just under half of the increase.

The dollar fetched ¥107.52 (RM4.28) in early Asian trade, against ¥107.48 in New York.

Among major shares in Tokyo, game giant Nintendo was up 1.84 per cent at ¥49,180, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest gained 0.81 per cent to ¥6,250, and Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing climbed 0.75 per cent to ¥61,770.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.4 per cent at 25,827.36. ― AFP