Nikkei up 0.67 pct as exporters higher, Nikko down

TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) The Nikkei average rose 0.67 percent on Wednesday as exporters such as Honda Motor Co Ltd rose on a softer yen and a rise on Wall Street.

A plunge in Thai stocks on Tuesday had little impact on global stock markets, giving relief to investors for now. Market participants are keeping an eye on further developments.

Investors continued to sell shares in Nikko Cordial Corp.

after regulators said it improperly booked $156 million in profits. Nikko ended the previous session down 14 percent at 1,219 yen.

''Exporters are on the rebound encouraged by a softer yen, and investors expect solid earnings from those companies,'' said Hiroyuki Fukunaga, a chief strategist in the research division at Rakuten Securities.

''At the moment, I am not seeing an impact from the rapid fall in the Thai market on the Japanese market, but investors will likely focus on whether the impact of investments fleeing from Thailand would spread to other Asian countries.'' The Nikkei was up 113.01 points at 16,889.89 as of 0112 GMT.

The broader TOPIX index rose 0.67 percent to 1,656.49.

Thai stocks suffered their biggest crisis since Asia's 1997 financial meltdown on Tuesday as foreign investors took fright at drastic measures to rein in the baht currency.

But the market looked set to recover after the Thai government did an about-face on its currency measures, saying equity investments would be excluded from the restrictions.

The yen was around 118 to the dollar in early Asian trading.

A softer yen is a boon to companies that make the bulk of their sales abroad because it boosts profits when earnings from abroad are brought home.

Honda was up 1.6 percent at 4,390 yen, while Kyocera Corp.

added 1.1 percent to 11,010 yen.

Shares in Nikko Cordial, Japan's third-biggest securities house, gave up 5.5 percent to 1,152 yen.

Nikko Cordial faces a $4 million fine and possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange after regulators found the brokerage had improperly booked $156 million in profits.

Among gainers, Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd. rose 2.4 percent to 1,803 yen after saying it aims for an operating profit of more than 150 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in 2009, up 28 percent from a projected 117 billion yen this calendar year.

It also said it would spend 300 billion yen for operational investments such as acquisitions.

REUTERS PKS RN0744