Tokyo stocks open up 0.98%.

n this Friday, June 22, 2012, photo, specialist Douglas Johnson, center, works with traders at his post on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. AP FILE PHOTO

TOKYO–Tokyo stocks opened 0.98 percent higher on Thursday after European and US bourses posted solid gains on the eve of closely watched European Union summit talks.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened up 85.58 points at 8,816.07.

“Frankly, there is a dearth of trading incentives, as all eyes now shift to the EU summit,” said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

European Union leaders are to hold talks in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Germany’s Angela Merkel held last-minute discussions Wednesday with French President Francois Hollande before the crucial EU summit but warned she would not budge in her opposition to pooling eurozone debt.

“Focus will be on Germany’s fiscal stance regarding regional debt, and the latitude that Chancellor Angela Merkel shows in her comments. But expectations from the summit are actually not that high,” Hirano told Dow Jones Newswires.

Currency rates were rangebound.

The euro fetched $1.2468 and 99.38 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.2467 and 99.38 yen in New York late Wednesday. The dollar was changing hands at 79.68 yen against 79.71 yen.

Following rises in European stocks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 92.34 points, or 0.74 percent, at 12,627.01 on Wednesday.