Japanese shares gain on chip boost, Wall St rally

TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose 1% on Monday, lifted by heavyweight chip companies, after a surge in Wall Street at the end of last week.

The Nikkei share average rose 1.04% to 26,768.77 by the midday break. The broader Topix climbed 0.82% to 1,881.98.

Wall Street's main indexes soared on Friday in a broad rally as signs of slowing economic growth and a recent pullback in commodity prices tempered expectations for the Federal Reserve's rate-hike plans.

"U.S. equities rose on Friday in part investors tried to adjust their allocations at the end of the half-year after sharp losses of the Wall Street throughout the month," said Ikuo Mitsui, fund manager at Aizawa Securities.

"Japanese stocks tracked that but gains were limited as investors started selling shares as the Nikkei got close to the 27,000 mark. Concerns about economic slowdown due to tightening monetary policy still remains."

In Japan, chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose 1.88%. Silicon wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical advanced 4.2% and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest climbed 3.11%.

Shippers jumped 4.97% and led gains among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha surged 7.74% and Nippon Yusen rose 4.92%.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings jumped 6.71%, as Japan braced for a possible power crunch amid rise in temperatures across the country.

Sapporo Holdings rose 1.05%. The beer maker announced the acquisition of U.S. craft beer maker Stone Brewing.

The real estate sector lost 0.82% was the worst performer among the industry sub-indexes.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.58 billion, compared to the average of 1.31 billion in the past 30 days.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)