Nikkei up 0.64 pct as Toyota, exporters gain on yen

TOKYO, Mar 15 (Reuters) The Nikkei average rose 0.64 percent on Thursday, after booking its second-biggest daily percentage fall this year in the previous session, as investors pick up recent losers including exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp., encouraged by a softer yen.

Shares in Nikko Cordial Corp. rose 0.4 percent to 1,696 yen, just below the 1,700 yen per share being offered by Citigroup in its .6 billion buyout offer for the brokerage.

The rise in the market shows worries about the subprime mortgage sector in the United States have receded for now, said Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, a strategist in Japanese equity research at Daiwa Securities' investment advisory department.

''Investors are buying stocks encouraged by rises in U.S.

stocks and a softer yen,'' he said.

''But we don't know if the U.S. market has completely digested the subprime mortgage issues, and we will all watch closely a series of economic indicators due there later this week.'' February U.S. industrial production data is due on Friday.

Asian stocks fell sharply early on Wednesday, with the Nikkei losing more than 2 percent after Wall Street had its second-worst sell-off this year on growing concerns about the subprime mortgage market, which serves borrowers with poor credit histories and charges higher interest rates.

The Nikkei was up 106.61 points at 16,783.50 as of 0044 GMT.

In the previous session, the benchmark logged the second-largest loss for this year, after the index fell 3.34 percent on March 5.

The broad TOPIX index rose 0.59 percent to 1,684.82.

The dollar inched up to 117.20 up slightly on the day from near 117.05 in late New York trade, recovering more than 1 percent from the overnight low of 115.76 yen.

A weaker 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.

Shares in exporters gained, with Toyota up 0.9 percent to 7,610 yen and Kyocera Corp. adding 0.7 percent to 10,320 yen.

Citigroup said on Wednesday it would accept tenders for 30 trading days starting on Thursday. It had raised its offer price earlier in the week from 1,350 yen, but Citigroup Japan CEO Douglas Peterson said it would not do so again.

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