Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday after Wall Street climbed, sparked by economic data that raised hopes of US interest rate cuts later this year.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.79 percent, or 302.41 points, to 38,376.39, while the broader Topix index added 0.53 percent, or 14.48 points, to 2,727.94.

"Japanese markets are expected to start higher today on the back of US gains," brokerage house Monex said.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9 percent while the broad-based S&P 500 was up 0.5 percent.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.3 percent.

The gains came after initial jobless claims rose to their highest level since last August, to 231,000 for the week ending May 4.

A higher level of claims -- if the trend persists -- could be seen as a sign of the labour market cooling down, giving the Federal Reserve impetus to lower interest rates.

In Tokyo trading, Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing climbed 1.45 percent to 41,220 yen while Nintendo jumped 4.90 percent to 7,970 yen.

SoftBank Group gained 2.53 percent to 7,932 yen.

Chip-linked shares were higher with Tokyo Electron advancing 1.42 percent to 35,710 yen and Advantest firming 1.01 percent to 5,158 yen.

Nissan, which announced it nearly doubled its full-year net profit on Thursday, fell 0.86 percent to 571.5 yen.

The dollar traded at 155.50 yen, little changed from 155.47 yen in New York on Thursday.