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By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks gained ground on Monday and the yen surged amid suspected intervention as investors embarked on what promises to be an action-packed week.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were modestly higher at the top of a week filled with high profile earnings, crucial economic data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.

Meanwhile, the yen jumped after touching 34-year low, with traders citing heavy yen-buying intervention by Japanese banks.

"It’s a playbook that they’ve used before - nobody is commenting despite all the confirmations that it occurred," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "It’s a holiday (in Japan) as well, so it’s a light volume day which points to some obvious conclusions even if its not official."

This week's data releases include European inflation and U.S. labor market indicators, while the Fed is due to convene on Tuesday for its two-day meeting at which it is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged, but strike a hawkish tone.

"Inflation is not exactly where they want it to be, but it has come down to the point where if the labor market shudders even a little bit the Fed will pivot back to dovish talk pretty quickly," Mayfield added. "The labor market is the car we’ll drive for the rest of the year."

Earnings season shifts into overdrive this week with high profile results expected from Amazon.com, Apple Inc and others.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 114.41 points, or 0.3%, to 38,354.07, the S&P 500 gained 10.04 points, or 0.20%, to 5,110 and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.17 points, or 0.25%, to 15,968.07.

European shares eked out a nominal gain, backing down from a two-week high after Germany reported higher-than-expected inflation. Investors now eye the Fed's rate decision on Wednesday.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.07% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.37%.

Emerging market stocks rose 0.99%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.97% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.81%.

Japan's yen jumped as much as 5 yen against the dollar, then eased back a bit amid suspicions that Tokyo intervened in the currency market for the first time in 18 months.

Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda declined to comment when asked if authorities had intervened, though traders said they had.

The dollar was last lower against a basket of world currencies.