Japan's Nikkei rises on resilient Wall Street, pause in yen rally

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose on Tuesday, with a pause in the yen's rally supporting automakers and other exporters, while resilience on Wall Street despite the U.S. sovereign downgrade buoyed overall sentiment.

At the same time, uncertainty at the start of the three-day Group of Seven meetings of finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Canada later in the day makes it "difficult for traders to move," said Maki Sawada, a strategist at Nomura.

Finance ministers will strive for unity on non-tariff issues at the gathering, but may have trouble reaching consensus with a Trump administration intent on pushing allies to serve U.S. interests.

The Nikkei .N225 rose 0.6% as of 0148 GMT, while the broader Topix .TOPX added 0.3%.

Investors worry that U.S. officials may push for a weaker dollar as part of tariff negotiations.

Trade tensions with China are also far from resolved, in spite of a recent rapprochement.

"This is not an environment where we can be complacent about the Sino-U.S. trade relationship," said Nomura's Sawada.

"Developments are likely to continue to swing stock markets."

Automakers were among the top performers as some weakening of the yen boosted the value of overseas revenues. Toyota 7203.T added 1.2% and Mazda 7261.T jumped 5%.

As a sector, car manufacturers and suppliers .ITEQP.T gained 1.4% to be the second-best performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's industry groups. Non-ferrous metals .INFRO.T was the top gainer with a 2.1% advance.

Sony 6758.T gained 3.2%.

The yen strengthened as far as 144.665 per dollar JPY=EBS on Monday, extending a rally that began a week ago when the currency was at 148.455, but has since stabilized.

Strength in chip-related shares was another factor pulling the Nikkei higher, with Advantest 6857.T gaining 2.8% and Tokyo Electron 8035.T advancing 1.8%.