TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday tracking gains on Wall Street, with investors focused on earnings reports by major companies including Sony due later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.84 percent or 226.75 points at 27,305.23 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.75 percent or 14.14 points at 1,910.20.

"The Japanese market is seen starting with gains following rallies in US shares," senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama said in a note.

Risk-averse sentiment is receding thanks to "brisk earnings by companies both in Japan and in the US," Okasan Online Securities said, adding profit-taking sell orders could still cap the upper limit of the market.

The dollar fetched 114.71 yen in early Asian trade, against 114.67 yen in New York late Tuesday.

Tokyo stocks open higher with eyes on earnings

In Tokyo, Sony was up 2.66 percent at 13,095 yen ahead of its earnings report due after the market close.

Panasonic was up 0.99 percent at 1,269 yen, Hitachi was up 1.96 percent at 5,916 yen and Japan Airlines (JAL) was up 1.70 percent at 2,210 yen, ahead of their earnings reports due after the market close.

JAL's rival ANA Holding rallied 3.78 percent to 2,496.5 yen after the company reported a better-than-expected third quarter operating profit, even as it booked a net loss of 102.8 billion yen ($894 million) for the nine months to December.