Tokyo stocks seen moving higher, helped by Wall St.

TOKYO, Apr 19 (Reuters) Tokyo stocks are seen moving higher on Thursday, with a wide range of blue chip stocks such as Honda Motor Co. Ltd. rising after the Dow closed at a record high on easing concerns about the economy in the United States, one of the biggest markets for Japanese goods.

Another focus in the market may be consumer finance stocks.

The Nikkei business paper said four major consumer credit companies such as Acom Co. Ltd. are likely to report a combined group net loss of more than 1 trillion yen (.4 billion) for the year ending March 31 due to a rise in reserves against legal claims by borrowers.

''Healthy earnings from U.S. companies will help push up Japanese stocks,'' said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equity marketing at Nikko Cordial Securities.

He also said investors are likely to continue picking up shares of exporters and marine transportation companies on expectations of solid earnings results.

Japan's earnings season kicks off next week.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.24 percent to close at a record 12,803.84 as stronger-than-expected profits from JPMorgan Chase&Co. eased concerns about the impact of the subprime lending crisis on big banks.

Nikkei futures pointed to a slight fall in the market.

Contracts expiring in June finished at 17,630 in Chicago, a decline of 30 points from the close in Osaka The Nikkei is likely to move between 17,550 and 17,750 on Thursday, Nishi said.

The benchmark closed up 0.8 percent at 17,667.33 the previous session.

STOCKS TO WATCH -- Sony Corp.

Sony's game division said its European unit may cut up to 160 jobs, or 8.4 percent of its work force, as it faces hot competition from Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Microsoft Corp.

-- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

Japan's Trade Ministry said on Wednesday it had chosen Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as a core company to design and engineer a fast-breeder nuclear test reactor.

-- Chip stocks Orders for Japanese equipment used to make microchips outpaced sales for the 12th straight month in March, but only by a small margin, indicating slowing demand for chip-making gear, an industry group said on Wednesday.

-- Mixi Inc T> Mixi, Japan's most popular online networking site, on Wednesday upgraded its parent forecast for the year to March thanks to increases in advertisement revenues. It now expects a net profit of 1.1 billion yen, up from its previous estimate of 986 million yen.

-- Mitsui Engineering&Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. T> Mitsui Engineering, a Japanese shipbuilding firm, said on Wednesday that it had revised up its earnings forecast for the fiscal year that ended in March due to a pick-up in orders.

The company now expects a group net profit of 19 billion yen, up from its previous projection of 16 billion yen.

It also raised its annual dividend forecast to 3.5 yen per share from 2.5 yen.

-- JFE Holdings Inc. T> JFE Steel Corp., the world's fourth-biggest steel maker, said on Wednesday it would spend 0 million to boost its production capacity for high-end seamless pipes used in oil wells by 60 percent to 250,000 tonnes a year. JFE Steel is the core unit of JFE Holdings Inc.

Reuters HK VP0502