TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday tracking gains on Wall Street, with investors keeping their eyes on upcoming corporate earnings reports.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.59 percent or 160.52 points at 27,162.50 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.57 percent or 10.74 points to 1,906.67.

"As positive market sentiment continues, bargain-hunting purchases of shares that announced upwards revisions of earnings forecasts, or that have had better-than-expected results, are supporting" share prices, SBI Securities said in a note.

However, profit-taking sales may emerge in later trade, it added.

ANA Holdings was up 0.35 percent at 2,411 yen ahead of the airline's third-quarter earnings report due after the market close.

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Sony Group was up 1.30 percent, rallying for a third straight day, after it announced a $3.6 billion agreement to buy US video game studio Bungie, creator of hits like "Halo" and "Destiny", as a gaming industry battle heats up with Microsoft.

Sony will release its earnings for the third quarter to December on Wednesday.

Among others, Panasonic was up 0.92 percent at 1,264 yen while Hitachi was down 0.20 percent at 5,927 yen ahead of their earnings reports due on Wednesday.

The dollar fetched 115.14 yen in early Asian trade, against 115.13 yen in New York late Monday.

Japan's jobless rate stood at 2.7 percent in December, improving by 0.1 percentage point from the previous month, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.

For 2021, the jobless rate stood at 2.8 percent, unchanged from the previous year.

The data did not prompt strong market reactions.