TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday supported by solid gains on Wall Street ahead of the US presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, and expected aggressive stimulus spending by his government.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.50 percent or 142.64 points to 28,776.10 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.09 percent or 1.66 points at 1,857.50.

"Japanese shares are seen gaining with support from rallies in the US market, but a wait-and-see attitude will increase ahead of the (US) presidential inauguration ceremony," Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.

The dollar fetched 103.89 yen in early Asian trade, against 103.90 yen in New York late Tuesday.

Among major shares in Tokyo, Sony was up 0.61 percent at 10,670 yen, Panasonic was up 1.26 percent at 1,326 yen, and industrial robot maker Fanuc was up 1.33 percent at 27,490.

ANA Holdings was down 2.18 percent at 2,259.5 yen after a report said the airline is planning to book a current loss of more than 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) for the nine months that ended in December.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.4 percent at 30,930.52.