TOKYO: Japanese shares closed higher on Tuesday, driven by tech stocks after a strong Wall Street finish overnight, even as benchmark equity indexes gave up most of their early gains in afternoon trade weighed down by weakness in US futures.

The Nikkei share average gained 0.28% to 27,078.48, after rising as much as 1.5% earlier in the session. The broader Topix inched up 0.01% to 1,896.06.

US stocks closed higher overnight, at the end of a volatile month for Wall Street where the tech-heavy Nasdaq narrowly avoided its worst ever start to the year and the S&P 500 recorded its weakest January performance since 2009.

“With not many market-moving catalysts, the decline in US futures dragged the sentiment,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. TDK surged 11.22% and was the top contributor to the Nikkei’s gain after the electronic component maker raised its profit outlook for the second time this year.