Tokyo shares rose Tuesday, as technology and export issues gained a boost from a weaker yen and solid U.S. stocks overnight.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 166.74 points, or 0.73 percent, from Monday at 22,884.22. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 5.71 points, or 0.36 percent, higher at 1,582.74.

Major gainers included service, pharmaceutical, electric appliance and semiconductor issues.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar gained ground against the yen in the lower 107 yen range, as concerns about an escalation of the coronavirus pandemic eased on hopes for a vaccine after news of progress in a British trial.

"A spike in U.S. high-tech issues as well as promising news on the COVID-19 front underpinned the Tokyo equity market the whole day," said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at NLI Research Institute.

Chip-related issues rose after the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed at another record high overnight, brokers said.

Tokyo shares extended gains in the afternoon after reports the nations of the European Union have agreed on setting up of a recovery fund and budget totaling 1.8 trillion euro to fend off the economic damage from the COVID-19 spread, they said.

The market was higher from the opening after a team of scientists at Oxford University said their experimental coronavirus vaccine has been shown in an early trial to induce an immune response.

On the First Section, advancing issues outnumbered decliners 1,402 to 676, while 94 ended unchanged.

Among semiconductor-related issues, Sony was up 130 yen, or 1.6 percent, at 8,379 yen and Sumco soared 69 yen, or 4.2 percent, to 1,695 yen. Tokyo Electron jumped 680 yen, or 2.3 percent, to 29,800 yen.

Trading volume on the main section rose to 1,151.71 million shares from Monday's 918.93 million shares.

==Kyodo

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