Tokyo stocks up 0.23% by break
Tokyo stocks rose 0.23 percent Wednesday morning after gains on Wall Street while a weaker yen lifted exporter shares.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 33.37 points to 14,321.60 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.21 percent, or 2.41 points, to 1,163.15.
The modest rise marked a rebound from Monday's 0.98-percent loss. The Tokyo market was closed Tuesday for a national holiday.
Investors were cautious, however, before the Bank of Japan (BoJ) finishes a policy board meeting later in the day.
"Not much is expected from the BoJ in terms of aggressive policy moves, but traders will be reticent nonetheless," Eiji Kinouchi, chief technical analyst at Daiwa Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Investors cheered the solid performance of US shares after mixed economic data and corporate earnings as a two-day US Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting got under way.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53 percent to 16,535.37, the S&P 500 added 0.48 percent to 1,878.33 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite tacked on 0.72 percent to 4,103.54.
The Tokyo market also benefited from the dollar's continued strength against the yen, which boosts the profitability of Japanese exporters.
The greenback bought 102.40 yen, slightly down from 102.64 in New York Tuesday, but still up from 102.17 yen on Monday in Tokyo.
In share trading, Canon rose 0.75 percent to 3,216 yen while Toyota gained 1.58 percent to 5,560 yen.
