TOKYO, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Japanese shares ended higher on Monday, with technology stocks leading gains, as they took cues from Wall Street's strong finish last week, which offset concerns about subdued domestic growth data.
The Nikkei share average advanced 0.56% to close at 29,776,80, while the broader Topix rose 0.39% to 2,048.52.
Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday, with market-leading growth shares, including Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp kick-starting indexes' climb as investors looked past disappointing U.S. economic data.
"Recently, the Japanese market sometimes shows little correlation with the U.S. market but today we can say the market rose because of Wall Street's gains," said Jun Morita, general manager of the research department at Chibagin Asset Management.
"But we can't find any market-moving catalysts that could lift the Nikkei above the 30,000 level."
The market did not react to the news that Japan's economy shrank faster than expected in the third quarter, as global supply disruptions and fresh COVID-19 cases hit business and consumer spending.
Heavyweight Tokyo Electron gained 0.93% after the company raised its profit forecast as well as outlook for dividend payouts.
Technology investor SoftBank Group rose 2.23% and medical services platform M3 jumped 3.29%.
Restaurant chain Skylark Holdings surged 6.48% after it raised its annual net profit forecast to 10 billion yen ($88 million) from 400 million yen.
Peer sushi restaurant chain Food & Life Companies and Kura Sushi rose 1.52% and 1.67%, respectively.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 2.04% after reporting a surge in its first-profit, while a rival Mizuho Financial Group fell 1.38% despite a robust earnings.
Nippon Express fell 5.8%, making it the biggest decliner on the Nikkei, followed by Ebara Corp, which lost 5.01% and Dai Nippon Printing, falling 3.89%.
($1 = 113.8200 yen)
(Editing by Rashmi Aich)
