TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Wednesday, led by technology stocks tracking gains in their U.S. peers, after signs of de-escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine drove Wall Street sharply higher.
By 0127 GMT, the Nikkei share average advanced 2% to 27,390.21, while the broader Topix climbed 1.43% to 1,942.16.
"Japanese market rebounded from a sharp fall in the previous session because the U.S. market jumped overnight," said Takatoshi Itoshima, strategist at Pictet Asset Management.
"But the gains were capped by weakness of the Nasdaq futures this morning. And the Russia-Ukraine tension will remain as a main focus for the market for about a week or so."
Wall Street ended sharply higher overnight, as geopolitical heat was turned down a notch after Russia said it had withdrawn some of its troops near the Ukraine border, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index posting its largest one-day percentage gain since March 2021.
In Tokyo, chip-related Tokyo Electron provided the biggest boost for the Nikkei, rising 4.11% and Advantest climbed 4.56%. Sensor maker TDK jumped 5.54%.
Asahi Holdings rose 5.15% after the beer maker said it would close factories in two locations in Japan at the end of January to boost its productivities.
Tyre maker Bridgestone jumped 7.63% after announcing a share buyback.
As oil prices fell, an explorer Inpex Corp lost 5.52% and became the worst performer on the Nikkei. Refiner Idemitsu Kosan fell 2.55 %.
There were 204 advancers on the Nikkei index against 18 decliners. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
