TOKYO (AP) - Japanese stocks rebounded Tuesday on rekindled demand among foreign investors and on news that real estate companies are planning to hike office rents, another sign the economy is emerging from deflation.

The Nikkei 225 index jumped 281.05 points, or 1.82 percent, to 15,718.98 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at the close of morning trade Tuesday. The index shed 275.52 points, or 1.75 percent, to 15,437.93 the previous day.

Pre-market buying via foreign brokerages before the market opened Tuesday outweighed selling for the first time in 10 sessions, helping to boost investor sentiment after two straight sessions of losses.

Investors were also cheered by a report in Japan's leading business newspaper, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, that the government is likely to upgrade its economic assessment and that real estate firms are planning office building rent hikes. That is another sign Japan is coming out of about seven years of deflation, when prices fall and erode paychecks and corporate profits.

The news helped lift banks and real estate stocks. Winners included real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan Co., up 5.25 percent to 2,305 yen ($19.45), and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., up 2.45 percent to 1.25 million yen ($10,550).

The broader TOPIX, which includes all issues on the exchange's first section, was up 26.71 points, or 1.70 percent, to 1,598.82 midday Tuesday. Gainers outnumbered losers 1,267 to 353.

In currencies, the dollar was trading at 118.53 yen on the Tokyo foreign exchange market at 11 a.m. Tuesday, up 0.34 yen from late Monday in London.

The euro fell to $1.1929 from $1.1945 late Monday in London.

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