Japanese stocks made modest gains in early Tuesday action, with the Nikkei Stock Average advancing 0.5% to 8,937.09 and the broader Topix up 0.4%. Ahead of influential Chinese trade data and news from a European Union summit due later in the day, exporters were mixed, but defensive domestic plays such as retailers and telecoms traded higher. Seven & I Holdings Co. , owner of the 7-Eleven brand of convenience stores, rose 1%, and FamilyMart Co. gained 1.8%, while brewer Kirin Holdings Co. added 2.4%, and wireless telecoms Softbank Corp. and KDDI Corp. added 0.8% apiece. Among exporters losing ground, Sony Corp. fell 0.8%, and Sharp Corp. dropped 2.7% after saying it would book a special loss of close to $200 million for settling a lawsuit from Dell Inc.

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