Japan stocks edge higher, markets nervous before Fed meeting

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks edged up on
Wednesday in choppy trade on expectations that the U.S. Federal
Reserve would reinforce its commitment to keeping rates low at a
meeting later in the day.
The Nikkei 225 Index .N225 rose 0.21% to 23,503.49 by 0205
GMT, with the telecommunications and healthcare sectors leading
gains. The broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.4% to 1,647.37.
Many investors were on the sidelines before the end of the
Fed meeting. While no major change in policy is expected, the
central bank is likely to emphasise that interest rates will
remain low for an extended period to support job creation.
In other news, Japan's parliament is expected to formally
approve Yoshihide Suga as the next prime minister sometime later
on Wednesday.
However, the formation of a new government has already been
priced into the Japanese stock market because Finance Minister
Taro Aso will retain his post, according to domestic media,
which suggests little change to economic policy.
Market focus was also on the Bank of Japan's policy
decision, due on Thursday, with the central bank expected to
leave its monetary easing stance unchanged.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were investment manager SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T , up
3.62%, followed by drugs maker Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd 4568.T ,
which jumped 2.91%.
The underperformers among the Topix 30 were automaker Honda
Motor Co Ltd 7267.T , down 2.35%, followed by Canon Inc
7751.T losing 1.80% as the yen's JPY=D3 rise to an almost
three-week high against the dollar hurt exporters.
There were 63 advancers on the Nikkei index against 156
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.51 billion, compared to the average of
1.14 billion in the past 30 days.

(Editing by Devika Syamnath)