Tokyo stocks close up 1.40% on US gains, weak yen

Tokyo stocks rallied Tuesday following sharp gains on Wall Street to close up 1.40 percent, while a weaker yen supported exporters including Sony and rival Panasonic.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 274.60 points to finish at 19,909.09, with the Topix index of all first-section shares gaining 1.66 percent, or 26.20 points, to 1,608.88.

Tokyo's rise came as US stocks gained on upbeat earnings reports and the latest Chinese stimulus measures aimed at propping up the world's number two economy.

Investors are now turning their attention to the start of Japan's earnings season.

"The bar is already low this quarter as the market expects US profits to shrink, so if we see more solid results... we may end up exceeding those low expectations," Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, told Bloomberg News.

"Investors are awaiting strong earnings from Japanese companies, so they will buy on weakness."

Investors were cheered after Sunday's cut by the People's Bank of China in the amount of cash lenders must hold in reserve, a move aimed at helping kick-start the economy, which grew in January-March at its slowest quarterly pace in six years.

The next indicator on the state of the economy in China -- a major Japanese trading partner -- comes with HSBC's preliminary index of manufacturing activity on Thursday.

Tuesday's rally reversed some of the losses suffered in the previous session that came on fears about Greece's future in the eurozone as Athens looks to secure billions of euros in bailout cash to pay its enormous debts.

With its creditors refusing to extend a repayment deadline while also haggling over its bailout reforms, the Greek government has ordered all public agencies to hand over their financial reserves.

In Tokyo, Sony shares climbed 1.78 percent to 3,680.5 yen, Panasonic further added to its recent gains by jumping 3.71 percent to 1,647.0 yen with investors expecting a strong earnings report.

Automaker Toyota gained 2.23 percent to 8,447.0 yen, and banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 1.85 percent to 5,050.0 yen.

On forex markets, the dollar rose to 119.49 yen from 119.22 yen in New York, and sharply higher than 118.62 yen in Tokyo earlier Monday.

On Wall Street, the Dow jumped 1.17 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.92 percent and the Nasdaq rallied 1.27 percent.

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