TOKYO, May 2 (Reuters) - Japanese shares ended lower on Monday in volatile trade as investors awaited a meeting of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee later this week, when domestic market will be closed for public holidays, for cues on the aggressiveness of monetary tightening.
The Nikkei share average fell 0.11% to close at 26,818.53, after opening and trading in positive territory. The broader Topix ended 0.07% lower at 1,898.35, also in seesaw trade.
"There was no direction in the market today ... Although the rate hike has been already factored in, there were uncertainties among investors how hawkish the Fed would become," said Shuji Hosoi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Wall Street slid on Friday to its deepest daily losses since 2020, as Amazon slumped following a gloomy quarterly report, and as the biggest surge in monthly inflation since 2005 spooked investors already worried about rising interest rates.
Japanese market will be closed from Tuesday to Thursday for public holidays known as the Golden Week.
Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron was the biggest drag on the Nikkei, losing 1.24%, followed by chip-testing equipment maker Advantest, which fell 4.78%. Robot maker Fanuc lost 2.26%.
Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities, said investors scooped up stocks that reported positive earnings, which helped limit market decline.
Murata Manufacturing jumped 3.23% and computer maker Fujitsu rose 5.03% after they reported robust earnings and announced share buybacks.
Technology conglomerate Hitachi jumped 6.72% after U.S. private equity company KKR agreed to buy the company's logistics arm in a $5.2-billion deal.
There were 124 advancers on the Nikkei index against 96 decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 1.23 billion, compared to the average of 1.24 billion in the past 30 days. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
