By Alexia Vlahos

SANTIAGO, April 21 (Reuters) - Chilean shares closed firmer on Tuesday, following gains on Wall Street as investors looked ahead to local quarterly earnings, while the peso closed firmer, traders said.

The IPSA .IPSA leading share index closed 1.17 percent firmer at 2,667.17 points, preliminary closing data showed, while the all-market IGPA index .IGPA closed 0.99 percent firmer at 12,714.11 points.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed 1.63 percent firmer, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the vast majority of U.S. banks have enough reserves to protect against possible losses and industrial bellwether United Technologies Corp (UTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) forecast a return to growth next year.

"We are waiting for company results," said Felipe Cruz, a trader with CorpCapital Brokerage.

A host of Chilean companies are set to release first-quarter earnings data this month, which will give investors a clear view of how they are coping with global crisis.

Soquimich SQM_pb.SN, Chile's leading exporter of fertilizer and the world's biggest producer of iodine and lithium, closed 2.22 percent higher at 18,070 pesos a share.

Steelmaker CAP CAP.SN closed 0.39 percent higher at 10,100 pesos, while industrial conglomerate Copec COP.SN, the most heavily weighted share on the bourse, rose 1.39 percent to 5,779.50 pesos.

Shares of regional energy group Enersis ENE.SN rose 2.75 percent to 176.98 pesos a share, while electricity generator Endesa Chile END.SN rose 0.54 percent to 744.01 pesos.