Tokyo's Nikkei index closes marginally up

TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index closed marginally higher on Monday in sluggish trade, with eyes on central bank meetings this week.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 0.17 percent, or 49.14 points, to 29,766.97, advancing for a fifth straight session.

The broader Topix index was up 0.91 percent, or 17.67 points, at 1,968.73.

"Investors remained positive with growing confidence that the US economy is on track to a steady recovery," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.

A weak yen, which is good for Japanese exporters, also supported buying sentiment, brokers said.

The dollar fetched 109.27 yen in Asian afternoon trade, against 109.00 yen in New York late Friday.

"But many players were on the sidelines ahead of policy meetings of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan later this week," Horiuchi told AFP.

In Tokyo, e-commerce giant Rakuten soared 24.09 percent to 1,545 yen and Japan Post gained 2.48 percent to 1.051 yen after the two firms agreed to form a capital alliance.

Automakers were among winners. Toyota jumped 2.39 percent to 8,340 yen as Nissan gained 1.56 percent to 615 yen, with Honda up 3.10 percent at 3,320 yen.

Nintendo rallied 1.59 percent to 61,620 yen and Sony rose 0.61 percent to 11,400 yen but SoftBank Group lost 2.49 percent to 10,370 yen on profit-taking.