Tokyo stocks gained 0.37 percent Tuesday morning, boosted by a weaker yen and hopes that Greece will manage to reach a deal on a debt write-down with private bondholders. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 32.35 points to 8,798.25 by the break after briefly topping the 8,800 mark for the first time since November.

Automakers were higher, led by Toyota Motor with a 2.86 percent gain to 2,798 yen. Sony lost 2.18 percent to 1,391 yen on profit-taking after the Nikkei business daily reported the electronics giant has proposed a capital alliance with scandal-hit Olympus. Olympus was flat at 1,297 yen. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chip stocks closed up 0.76 percent at 12,720.48 on Monday while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.06 percent to 2,786.70.

Sony Corp. has established its first leadership campus outside Japan to train executives with skills to grow the company's business in Asia's emerging markets, company officials said. The company expects to invest about 4.5 million Singapore dollars ($3.5 million) over the next three years for the Sony University campus in Singapore. Between 70 and 100 Sony executives a year, mainly from Asia, will undergo training for three to six months at the Singapore campus, which occupies nearly 315 sq. meters on the ninth floor of an office building in the western part of the island state. The first training session is expected to take place from March.