Tokyo: Tokyo shares opened higher on Monday, taking a positive lead from rallies on Wall Street last week.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.43 percent, or 97.38 points, to 22,648.23 in early trade while the broader Topix index rose 0.38 percent, or 6.69 points, at 1,787.25.
Buying sentiment was lifted after US stocks climbed to fresh records Friday on optimism about the holiday shopping season, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ending at all-time highs.
"The Nikkei index is expected to be in a range between 22,000 and 23,000 this week," Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities, said in a commentary.
Kubota said the market remained cautious about the yen's strength, which is usually a drag on the Tokyo stock market as it erodes the profitability of Japanese exporters.
The dollar, which traded at the 112-yen level a week ago, was changing hands at 111.65 yen, slightly up from 111.55 yen in New York late Friday.
Mitsubishi Materials jumped 1.86 percent to 3,830 yen after plunging more than eight percent on Friday as it admitted to falsifying product data.
Sony rose 0.93 percent to 5,373 yen while Toyota gained 0.37 percent to 7,049 yen.
