Tokyo: Shares track Wall Street gains; autos and shippers shine

[TOKYO] Japanese shares ended higher on Tuesday (Mar 29), tracking overnight Wall Street gains, led by auto makers and shippers, with demand for securing rights for dividend payouts driving the market.

The Nikkei share average rose 1.1 per cent to close at 28,252.42, while the broader Topix climbed 0.93 per cent to 1,91.66.

"Today is the last day to secure dividend allotments, which boosted demand for stocks," Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, said, adding that a fall in oil prices also lifted sentiment.

Auto and parts makers and shippers led gains among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry subindexes, rising 2.08 per cent and 1.82 per cent, respectively.

Toyota Motor rose 2.68 per cent, Honda Motor gained 2.27 per cent and Nissan Motor climbed 1.44 per cent, as the yen hovered its lowest against the dollar since August 2015.

On the other hand, refiners were the top losers, falling 1.69 per cent as oil prices fell.

Eneos Holdings slipped 2.06 per cent and Idemitsu Kosan lost 1.4 per cent.

Utility Chubu Electric Power was the top performer on Nikkei, with a gain of 5.88 per cent, followed by medical platform M3 gaining 4.6 per cent and motorcycle maker Yamaha Motor rose 4.19 per cent.

There were 142 advancers on the Nikkei index against 79 decliners.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 1.36 billion, compared to the average of 1.37 billion in the past 30 days. REUTERS