TOKYO (REUTERS) - Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA)said on Wednesday it does not expect to issue a tsunami warning after a strong earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands.

"We are still doing our own calculations on the size of the earthquake, but any impact is likely to be very small and we do not think we will have to issue a tsunami warning," a JMA spokesman said.

A powerful earthquake measuring 8.0 magnitude struck east of the Solomon Islands on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake was a shallow 5.8 km deep and the epicentre was 347 km east of Kira Kira in the Solomon Islands.

A tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii.