TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) - Japanese shares tracked Wall Street higher on Tuesday, with auto makers and shippers leading the gains, as the market was underpinned by demand for securing rights for dividend payouts.
The Nikkei share average rose 0.6% to 28,110.73 before the midday break, while the broader Topix gained 0.57% to 1,984.65.
"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 investors' sentiment.
Auto and parts makers and shippers led gains among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry subindexes, rising 1.71% and 1.68%, respectively.
Toyota Motor rose 2.2%, Honda Motor gained 1.78% and Nissan Motor climbed 1.52% as the yen hovered its lowest against the dollar since August 2015.
On the other hand, refiners were the top losers, falling 2.31% as oil prices fell.
Eneos Holdings slipped 2.29% and Idemitsu Kosan lost 2.81%.
Utility Chubu Electric Power rose 5.31% and was the top performer on the Nikkei, followed by medical platform M3 , which rose 4.9% and a retailer Seven & i Holdings , up 4.89%.
There were 122 advancers on the Nikkei index against 99 decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.62 billion, compared to the average of 1.37 billion in the past 30 days.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; editing by Uttaresh.V)
