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TOKYO: Japanese stocks edged higher on Wednesday but gains were limited as many investors awaited the US Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the day, while Toshiba jumped after announcing a major share buyback.
Toshiba Corp surged 6.7 percent after saying it would buy back up to about 700 billion yen ($6.33 billion) of its shares.
The Nikkei share average ended 0.4 per cent higher to 22,966.38.
Investors turned attention from Tuesday's US-North Korea summit in Singapore to the Fed's coming decision and statement.
Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities, said the summit outcome "was in line with what the market had expected.
Few people expected that there would be details on denuclearisation."
He said that as the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates for the second time this year, the market is watching how US yields move after its comments following the meeting.
"Investors are looking out for hints on whether the Fed wants to raise rates further this year.
If that's the case, US stocks will likely weaken, which would pressure Japanese stocks," Sato said.
In Wednesday's trading, exporters were mixed, with automakers attracting buying, while technology stocks were sold off.
Toyota Motor Corp rose 1.3 per cent, while Advantest Corp shed 0.7 per cent and Panasonic Corp dropped 0.5 per cent.
Nintendo Co tumbled 6.2 per cent and was the most traded stock by turnover.
Traders said the company disappointed investors after its presentation held at E3 2018 entertainment expo in Los Angeles.
Traders said that new game titles for Nintendo Switch consoles that were announced at the games event did not include major ones.
The broader Topix gained 0.4 per cent to 1,800.37.
($1 = 110.5900 yen)
