Japan's Nikkei tracks Wall Street higher as BOJ decision looms

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose in early trading on Friday, buoyed by a record close for U.S. stocks overnight.

Gains came despite a widely expected interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan later in the day.

The Nikkei .N225 added 0.3% to 40,076.88 as of 0014 GMT, with 159 of the index's 225 components rising, versus 64 that fell and two that were flat.

The broader Topix .TOPX advanced 0.2%.

On Thursday, the U.S. S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to mark its first closing record since Dec. 6.

There is not a set time for the BOJ decision, but it tends to come after 0230 GMT, which is when Japanese markets close for the midday recess.

"The BOJ has gone to pains to guide the market towards this hike and has expressly said it wouldn't do it if the markets were volatile at the time of the meeting," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

"It's very unlikely the BOJ would pull the rug from underneath the market, considering all the conditions have been met for the central bank to hike."