Japan’s Nikkei tracks Wall Street gains to end at over 1-month high

TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei index ended at a more than one-month high on Monday, tracking Wall Street gains in the last session, although the gains were capped by caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting and domestic corporate earnings announcements.

The Nikkei share average .N225 gained 0.19% to close at 27,433.40, its highest close since Dec. 16, after briefly slipping in the negative territory. The broader Topix .TOPX was marginally down 0.01% at 1,982.40.

The week is filled with market-moving events, so investors are being more cautious, said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities.

“I am unsure if this (upbeat) momentum will continue this week. Investors are cautious and could sell stocks to book profits ahead of the Fed meeting, U.S. employment data as well as domestic corporate results.”

Wall Street rose on Friday, marking the end of a rocky week in which economic data and corporate earnings guidance hinted at softening demand but also economic resiliency ahead of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee this week. .N

A string of high profile earnings reports are on tap globally, notably from Apple Inc AAPL.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O, Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and Meta Platforms META.O, among others.

Investors are also reacting to Japan’s corporate outlook, as the earnings season reaches its peak this week.

Fanuc 6954.T jumped 3.58% after the robot maker raised its annual operating profit outlook and announced a 5-for-1 stock split. nFWN34B2WO

Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.T, up 5.08%, posted a fourth straight session of gains as the silicon wafter maker raised its annual operating profit outlook.

Japanese semiconductor equipment makers showed muted reaction to news that Washington had made progress towards a deal to curb exports of some advanced chip-making equipment to China with several governments.

Tokyo Electron 8035.T rose 0.68% and Advantest 6857.T lost 0.32%, while Nikon 7731.T inched up 0.16%.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; editing by Uttaresh.V and Rashmi Aich)

((junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com;))