TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei closed slightly higher on Tuesday, helped by tech stocks as investors snapped up beaten-down equities, even as caution prevailed ahead of U.S. inflation data due out later this week.
The Nikkei share average closed 0.13% higher at 27,284.52, paring most of its early gains of 0.8%. The broader Topix was up 0.42% at 1,934.06.
"Japanese shares rebounded as Nasdaq futures gained (in Asian trading hours), but the upside was capped because investors were cautious ahead of the U.S. CPI (consumer price index) report after strong labour data," said Takatoshi Itoshima, a strategist at Pictet Asset Management.
Technology shares led the gains, with phone company KDDI rising 1.63%, followed by robot maker Fanuc, advancing 1.37%, and chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron , adding 0.4%.
Technology start-up investor SoftBank Group gave up early gains to fall 0.9% ahead of its earnings announcement due later in the day.
Shionogi & Co fell 1.5%, reversing early gains fuelled by comments from the nation's prime minister that the government would consider granting conditional early approval for the drugmaker's oral COVID-19 treatment.
Trading house Itochu rose 1.83% and was the best performer among the top 30 core Topix names, followed by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which climbed 1.66%.
Game maker Nintendo lost 1.38% and was the worst performer among the Topix 30, followed by audio equipment and camera maker Sony Group, which fell 1.07%.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 1.29 billion, compared to the average of 1.18 billion in the past 30 days. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
