TOKYO: Japanese shares ended higher on Tuesday as investor sentiment was lifted by a tech-led overnight rally on Wall Street, and a softer yen propped up exporters. The benchmark Nikkei average gained 1.7% to 22,573.66, its highest close since July 28, while the broader Topix jumped 2.14% to 1,555.26.

All 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange finished trading in positive territory, led by highly cyclical airlines, land transport and shippers. Shares of export-oriented automobile makers got a boost from a weaker yen, which edged further away from a 4-1/2-month high hit last week against the dollar.

Mazda Motor surged 10.59%, while Mitsubishi Motor and Nissan Motor Co rallied 7.18% and 6.61%, respectively. Individual stocks with better-than-expected earnings results also provided a tailwind, prompting investors to lean towards risk-on mood, said Shuji Hosoi, senior market strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

Suzuki Motor rose 7.67% on better-than-expected earnings. While the automaker posted a 1.3 billion yen operating profit, its worst quarterly performance on record, it was still better than a consensus forecast for a loss of 38 billion yen drawn from six analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Food company Kikkoman Corp jumped 14.11% to its daily limit on stay-at-home demand hopes, despite a 12.8% decline in April-June net profit. Nikkei heavyweight SoftBank Group fell 0.74% after Reuters reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, that the tech conglomerate under-reported income by around 40 billion yen.