Japanese shares end higher as tech tracks Wall Street's gain

TOKYO: Japanese shares closed higher on Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, as heavyweights SoftBank Group and other technology stocks jumped along with energy and transport sectors.

The Nikkei share average ended up 0.87% at 27,732.10, while the broader Topix gained 1% to 1,934.20.

Wall Street's main indexes ended higher on Monday, with the Nasdaq closing at an all-time high, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE.

"Japan's market rose as expectations for a faster economic recovery (globally) were raised after the US approval of the Pfizer's vaccine," said Shuji Hosoi, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

"Whether the Japanese shares will continue this momentum will depend on how Japan can come up with measures for stopping a further surge of new infections."

Japan's vaccination rate still lags other developed nations and the country's hospitals are battling its worse wave of the outbreak, and, amid this pandemic, Tokyo is hosting the Paralympic Games.

Global start-up investor SoftBank Group rose 1.53%, while chip manufacturing equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose 2%. Robot maker Fanuc advanced 1.58%.

Shippers also led the market's gain, up 3.55%, while airlines rose 3.14%. Steel makers rose 2.76%.

Industrial materials maker Showa Denko became the worst performer on the Nikkei, tumbling 9.63%, after the company announced a sale of new shares.

Yamaha Motor followed with a loss of 5.73% and Olympus was down 2.67%.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.96 billion, compared to the average of 1.04 billion in the past 30 days.