TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors took heart from strong rebounds on Wall Street over hopes that the newest coronavirus variant will prove less virulent than earlier strains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.89 percent or 528.23 points to end at 28,455.60, while the broader Topix index gained 2.17 percent or 42.31 points to 1,989.85. “Share buying surged as excessive fears about the Omicron variant have eased,” Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

The dollar fetched 113.72 yen in Asian trade, against 113.46 yen in New York late Monday. Toyota climbed 1.88 percent to 2,105 yen after it said it will build a new $1.29 billion automotive battery-manufacturing plant in North Carolina in the US, planning to start output in 2025.