TOKYO, Sept 2, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday in cautious trade after a mixed close on Wall Street, with investors looking ahead to US jobs data due this week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.48 percent or 135.43 points at 28,586.45 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.21 percent or 4.23 points to 1,985.02.

"A wait-and-see attitude is likely to proliferate in Japanese trade ahead of the US payrolls data," Mizuho Securities said.

Investors are also keeping an eye on Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's moves in preparation for general elections due later this year, it added.

The dollar fetched 110.02 yen in early Asian trade, against 110.01 yen in New York late Wednesday.

In Tokyo, Takeda, which manages sales and distribution of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in Japan, was down 0.45 percent at 3,711 yen after Moderna said tainted batches sent to Japan were contaminated with stainless steel particles.

The US biotech firm said the contamination was not expected to pose "an undue risk to patient safety".

JR West nose-dived 14.36 percent to 5,148 yen after the railway company said it wants to raise 278.6 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in share sales at home and abroad.

Honda was down 0.54 percent at 3,339 yen after it said its US sales in August dipped 15.6 percent year-on-year.

Its bigger rival Toyota was off 0.44 percent at 9,610 yen.

Some tech shares were higher, with Sony trading up 0.83 percent at 11,535 yen and Fujitsu up 0.85 percent at 20,660 yen.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.1 percent at 35,312.53 and the broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 4,524.09, while the tech-rich Nasdaq ended up 0.3 percent.