Nikkei inches higher as Sony gains, Canon dips

TOKYO, Oct 12 (Reuters) The Nikkei average rose 0.37 percent on Thursday as Sony Corp. rose, helped by Sony Ericsson's stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, but recent gainers such as Canon Inc. fell on profit-taking.

Yumi Nishimura, manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC's investment advisory section, said while recent gainers succumbed to profit-taking, stocks which took a beating on Wednesday such as non-ferrous and steel firms gained ground, and a fall in crude oil prices propped up shares of shipping firms.

''It looks as if a reversal of what we saw yesterday,'' she said, adding that technology stocks with earnings prospects were most in favour on Thursday.

Uncertainty ahead of a peak of first-half corporate earnings later this month is among factors which have made investors mostly hesitant to buy a broad range of shares, analysts said.

The Nikkei was up 60.27 points at 16,460.84 as of 0102 GMT after falling 0.47 percent on Wednesday. The broad TOPIX index was up 0.17 percent at 1,624.87.

Shares of Sony rose 2.2 percent to 4,610 yen.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson, which Sony owns jointly with Sweden's Ericsson, cheered investors on Wednesday with third-quarter pretax earnings of 433 million euros (2 million), twice as much as analysts expected, saying it gained market share.

Copier and camera maker Canon fell 0.9 percent to 6,610 yen after hitting a lifetime high of 6,700 yen based on share-split adjusted prices on Wednesday.

Shares in Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. plunged 7.6 percent to 2,080 yen. Japan's biggest over-the-counter (OTC) drug maker cut its annual profit forecast by a third on Wednesday in its second downward revision this year, citing higher research and development costs and sluggish sales.

A fall in oil prices helped shippers and airlines.

Shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. rose 1.7 percent to 923 yen. Japan Airlines Corp. gained 2.4 percent to 216 yen.

U.S. crude oil futures edged down in Asia on Thursday to stay near a 2006 low ahead of the release of U.S. inventory data, extending a 4.1 percent decline in the past two sessions on the lack of a formal OPEC agreement on an output cut.

REUTERS DH RAI0743