Tokyo stocks seen moving higher on Wall St., yen

TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters) Tokyo stocks are seen moving higher on Monday with technology shares such as Advantest Corp. rising following gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq and helped by a softer yen.

All Japanese financial markets were closed on Thursday and Friday for Japan's Golden Week public holidays.

''U.S. stocks rose on expectations of mergers and acquisitions such as with Yahoo, and technology shares here are likely to gain as they tend to move in association with U.S. peers,'' said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager of equity marketing department at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

In the United Sates, reports that Microsoft Corp. may buy Yahoo Inc. boosted the Internet media company's shares 10 percent on Friday and propelled the Nasdaq Composite Index to a fifth straight week of gains, its longest winning streak in nearly 18 months.

Late on Friday afternoon in New York, the dollar was down 0.2 percent to 120.10 yen, just above an intraday low of 119.92 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.

Nikkei futures pointed to a rise in Tokyo stocks. Contracts expiring in June closed at 17,615 in Chicago on Friday, up 175 points from their close in Osaka The Nikkei is likely to move between 17,450 and 17,700 on Monday, market participants said.

The benchmark rose 0.69 percent to 17,394.92 on Wednesday, a last trading day before the Golden Week holidays.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday with the Nasdaq up 0.26 percent at 2,572.15.

STOCKS TO WATCH -- Sumitomo Trust&Banking Co. T> Sumitomo Trust&Banking, Japan's fifth-biggest bank, said it would miss its net profit forecast for the past business year by 18 percent because of increased credit costs for the ailing consumer finance sector.

-- Takefuji Corp. and Aiful Corp. T> Takefuji and Aiful, two of Japan's top four consumer lenders, warned on Wednesday of deeper losses for the past business year because of higher reserves against legal claims.

-- Fujitsu Ltd.

Fujitsu said on Wednesday its British unit plans a tender offer bid for French computer software and services firm GFI Informatique in a deal that would cost the Japanese company up to 419 million euros.

-- Fukuoka Financial Group, Kyushu-Shinwa Holdings Inc.

Fukuoka Financial Group said on Wednesday it would provide financial aid to Kyushu-Shinwa Holdings and might merge with it in a deal that could create Japan's largest regional bank.

-- Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL) T> JAL, Japan's largest airline, said on Wednesday that it now expects to have lost money for the second year in a row instead of returning to profit as previously forecast because of a write-off of deferred tax assets The Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday that the Development Bank of Japan, Mizuho Corporate Bank and two other main lenders would bolster oversight of JAL's restructuring, asking for detailed monthly progress reports.

-- Tokyo Electron Ltd. T> The world's second-largest chip equipment maker is likely to post a record-high group net profit of around 93 billion yen (0 million) in the year through March 2008, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.

-- TDK Corp.

TDK said on Sunday it plans to spend 50 billion yen to build a new ceramic capacitor plant in Japan.

-- Aeon Co. T> The retailer plans to spend more than 460 billion yen on new store openings and renovations over the two business years through February 2009, a 30 percent rise above the previous two-year period, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.

-- Canon Inc. T> A U.S. court has ruled Canon does not have to pay additional damages to Nano-Proprietary Inc. over the violation of a patent licence used to develop a new kind of flat-panel display.

-- Honda Motor Co. Ltd. T> Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., the Indian unit of Japan's Honda Motor Co., said on Thursday it will invest up to 20 billion rupees (5 million) in a second plant and raise its capacity to more than 150,000 cars by 2010.

-- Nihon Chouzai Co. T> Nihon Chouzai unit Nihon Generic Co. will establish a research and development centre next month in Japan to develop its own drugs, the Nikkei business daily said on Friday.

-- Mitsubishi Materials Corp. T> The nonferrous metal smelter will likely see its group pretax profit fall 3 percent to about 100 billion yen in the current business year to March 2008 as the price of copper falls, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.

Reuters ABM VP0545