Nikkei up on Kyocera, N.Korea reports shrugged off

Tokyo, Aug 18: The Nikkei averaged edged up 0.16 percent on Friday as shares of Kyocera Corp. and Tokyo Electron Ltd. maintained gains on expectations their earnings would benefit from a pause in U.S. interest rate rises.

Trade was thin, however, due to Japan's Obon summer holidays and a lack of new factors to propel the market. U.S. media reports that North Korea could be preparing for its first test of a nuclear bomb had little impact, market participants said.

''Apart from easing concerns about U.S. interest rates, there really aren't any new factors to move the market,'' said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy division at Marusan Securities.

While the market had been worried that the Federal Reserve would continue to raise rates, tame consumer and producer price data this week helped ease those concerns.

Higher rates in the United States are seen crimping consumer spending, a negative for Japanese firms that make the bulk of their profits outside the country.

Investors shrugged off reports that Pyongyang could be gearing up for a nuclear test.

''It would be different if they actually tested (a weapon), or fired a missile, but right now we don't really know how much of this is true, so it isn't a big minus for the market,'' Ushio said.

The Nikkei was up 24.85 points at 16,045.69 as of 0116 GMT.

The broader TOPIX index was up 0.13 percent at 1,633.64.

Electronics components maker Kyocera Corp. was up 1.3 percent at 9,990 yen.

Tokyo Electron was up 2.1 percent at 7,780 yen.

Reuters