The Nikkei stock average closed higher Tuesday but lost about 100 points in the last three minutes of trading after bomb threats were made against two top hotels in Tokyo. Police later determined the threats were pranks.
The 225-issue Nikkei closed the day 175.47 points, or 1.85 percent, higher at 9,679.88 after touching an intraday high of 9,945.80 in the afternoon. The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index of all first section issues gained 16.64 points, or 1.67 percent, to close at 1,013.09.
Tokyo stocks were higher throughout the day despite the plunge overnight on Wall Street as expectations rose that the U.S. market would rally Tuesday after the firm performance of Nasdaq stock index futures, which was observed in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the Nikkei shed nearly 270 points in the last 30 minutes of trading after the media reported that an unidentified person called the Hotel Okura and Hotel New Otani and said bombs had been planted.
In New York on Monday, the first day of trading since the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon saw the 30-issue Dow Jones Industrial Average tumble 684.81 points, or 7.13 percent, to close at 8,920.70 Monday, falling below 9,000 for the first time since December 1998.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index plunged 6.83 percent to end at 1,579.55.
Although the Dow suffered its largest single-day point loss, investors in Tokyo downplayed the significance of the slide as some people anticipated a loss of more than 1,000 points, according to brokers.
Optimism spread throughout the market on expectations that the Bank of Japan would implement additional monetary easing during its Policy Board meeting later in the day.