Tokyo stocks seen higher, exporters in focus

TOKYO, Mar 9 (Reuters) Tokyo stocks are seen advancing on Friday, led by shares of recently battered exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. following a fall in the yen and an advance in U.S. stocks.

Trade may be volatile at the opening due to transactions related to the settlement of March Nikkei futures and options contracts.

Investors will also be paying attention to machinery orders data for January, due to be released before the start of trade.

''The yen, which is the thing everyone is paying attention to at the moment, has weakened, so that gives investors some relief,'' said Toru Otsuka, deputy general manager of investment information at Mizuho Investors Securities.

The yen fell nearly 1 percent against the dollar on Thursday. A weaker yen is a positive for Japan's exporters as it boosts profits when earnings from abroad are brought home.

Shares in Tokyo would also be aided after a gain in New York, Mizuho's Otsuka said.

Nikkei futures pointed to a fall in the market. Contracts expiring in March finished at 17,100 in Chicago, up 80 points from the close in Osaka The Nikkei is likely to move between 17,050 and 17,200 on Friday, market sources said.

The benchmark rose 1.9 percent to 17,090.31 on Thursday.

U.S. stocks gained on Thursday with the Dow Jones industrial average adding 0.56 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index rising 0.55 percent.

STOCKS TO WATCH -- Aeon Co. T> Japan's second-biggest retailer and trading house Marubeni Corp.

have agreed to hold small stakes in each other to cement their relationship, newspapers reported on Friday.

-- Aoki Holdings Inc., Marufuru Co. Ltd. Q> Aoki Holdings, a retailer of menswear, said on Thursday it planned to spend about 2.4 billion yen (.49 million) to take a stake of about 90 percent in casual wear chain operator Marufuru, seeking to expand in the casual wear market.

Aoki, Japan's second-biggest seller of business suits and shirts, said it would pay 530 yen per Marufuru share, a 30 percent premium to Marufuru's closing price of 408 yen on Thursday.

--Canon Inc. T> Canon said on Thursday it plans to buy back as much as 100 billion yen worth of its own shares, a day after it said it completed a separate buy-back of a similar size.

--NEC Corp. T> Electronics conglomerate NEC said on Thursday its shares could be delisted from the U.S. Nasdaq market because it was likely to miss a deadline for filing an earnings report.

--Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd T> Chugai said on Thursday it would buy back 27.6 billion yen worth of its own shares on Friday through the Tokyo bourse's after-hours trading system.

-- Noritz Corp. T> Noritz, a gas heater maker, said on Thursday a shareholder with a 0.09 percent stake in the company had asked it to boost its dividend payment more than 10-fold to 300 yen this business year.

-- Kirin Brewery Co. T> Japan's second-biggest brewer does not have immediate plans to rescue smaller rival Sapporo Holdings, which is facing a takeover attempt by hedge fund Steel Partners, its president said on Thursday.

-- Zensho Co., Kappa Create Co. T> Zensho, an operator of a chain of ''gyudon'' beef bowl restaurants, said on Thursday it would spend about 10.5 billion yen to buy 6.3 million new shares in Kappa Create, which runs a chain of sushi restaurants.

Zensho also plans to buy 949,600 shares from Kappa Create's founder, giving it a stake of about 31 percent. The newly issued shares will be priced at 1,661 yen apiece, a discount to Thursday's close of 1,720 yen.

REUTERS DKS PM0517