Japan's Nikkei rallies as firm oil prices lift energy producers

By Rocky Swift

TOKYO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share gauge rose for the first time in four sessions on Wednesday, driven by energy producers on elevated oil prices.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 .N225 recovered from an early decline to gain 0.69% to 63,923 at the close. The broader Topix .TOPX climbed 0.61% to 4,061.72.

Investors remained cautious ahead of policy decisions by the Federal Reserve later on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan on Friday, with both expected to raise rates. Wall Street extended its selloff overnight, as rising U.S. Treasury yields, debt concerns and soaring crude prices weighed on sentiment.

Meanwhile, trade data released on Wednesday showed Japan's exports rose 19.3% year-on-year, but a sharp 28% jump in imports left a trade deficit of 1.106 trillion yen ($7.5 billion), underscoring the impact of higher energy costs.

"U.S. markets ended lower but losses were limited, and investors are likely to stay on the sidelines ahead of the Fed and the Bank of Japan's policy meeting, making sharp moves unlikely," Monex Securities' Yoshitaka Araya said in a note.

Oil and coal product shares led gains among Topix industry groups, rising 4.62%. Sub-indexes tracking drugmakers and information technology shares were among the Topix's laggards, down 0.90% and 0.80%, respectively.

There were 152 advancers on the Nikkei 225 against 70 decliners and three unchanged.

The largest percentage gainers in the index were Eneos Holdings 5020.T, up 4.99%, followed by Screen Holdings 7735.T, 4.37% higher, and Idemitsu Kosan 5019.T, which gained 4.31%, marking a record high.

The largest losers were Mercari 4385.T, down 6.36%, followed by Otsuka Holdings 4578.T, 4.55% lower, and Sumitomo Pharma 4506.T, which lost 4.11%.