Japanese stocks rose on Tuesday, drawing support from a rally on Wall Street and as a weaker yen boosted export stocks, although broader gains were limited by fresh concerns over US-China trade tensions. Japan's Nikkei share average rose 0.14 per cent to 21,843.37. The broader Topix added 0.32 per cent to 1,637.36.

“Given the gains by US shares, the Nikkei could have gone higher but profit taking pressure is quite strong,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. “The market won't find confidence until the weekend US-China summit is out of the way.”

US President Donald Trump in an interview with the Wall Street Journal said that he expected to move ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 per cent from the current 10 per cent and repeated his threat to slap tariffs on all remaining imports from China.

Trump, who is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina this weekend, said that if negotiations were unsuccessful, he would also put tariffs on the rest of Chinese imports.

Shares of chat application operator Line Corp rose 7.5 per cent after the Nikkei business daily reported that it will tie up with Tencent Holdings Ltd to offer mobile payment services. Shipping companies gained after the Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks the rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, rallied on higher demand for capesize vessel segments.

Mitsui OSK Lines rose 2.6 per cent, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha advanced 3 per cent and Nippon Yusen gained 2.4 per cent. The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) sea transport index was up 2.4 per cent.

Automakers rose as the yen struggled near a two-week low versus the dollar, which boosts export competitiveness. Toyota Motor Corp climbed 1.3 per cent, Honda Motor Co advanced 1.2 per cent and Mazda Motor Corp gained 1.7 per cent.

Nomura Holdings Inc was up 0.6 per cent after the company said it will cancel 4.1 per cent of its outstanding stock on December 17. Of TSE's 33 sub-indexes, 24 were in positive territory.

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