Nikkei up 0.3 pc; Marubeni, decliners gain

Tokyo, July 12: Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.34 percent on Thursday, led by trading houses such as Marubeni Corp., which rose after a brokerage initiated coverage, while a wide range of other shares rose following a rebound in U.S. stocks and a slightly softer yen.

But Tokyo Electron Ltd. shares dropped nearly 3 percent after the company said on Wednesday orders for its chip- and display-making equipment fell 35 percent in April-June from the previous quarter's record high to about 140 billion yen on slower demand from dynamic random access memory makers.

''The market is on the rebound as the factors that brought it down yesterday have turned around a bit, with the yen a little softer and U.S. stocks up,'' said Yutaka Miura, deputy manager of the equity information department at Shinko Securities.

''But with a series of events ahead of us, the mood of the market is not to actively keep buying.'' Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui is to hold a news conference later in the day after a two-day meeting of the central bank's policy board, which is expected to keep interest rates on hold.

Miura said investors are also awaiting a string of Japanese corporate earnings results and upper house elections later this month.

An election for half of the seats in the upper house of Japan's parliament will be held on July 29, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party may fare poorly after a spate of recent problems.

The benchmark Nikkei was up 61.05 points at 18,110.56 as of 0103 GMT.

The broader TOPIX index added 0.38 percent to 1,774.50.

Marubeni climbed 4 percent to 1,159 yen after Mitsubishi UFJ Securities initiated coverage on the trading house's stock with a ''1'' rating, citing expectations for continued earnings growth as prices of crude oil and other commodities remain firm.

Shares of other trading houses also advanced with Sumitomo Corp. up 3.5 percent at 2,355 yen and Toyota Tsusho Corp.

climbing 4.2 percent to 3,110 yen.

Some recent decliners gained ground with Sony Corp. up 0.5 percent at 6,360 yen, while Canon Inc. added 0.4 percent to 6,990 yen.

Shares of Tokyo Electron lost 2.8 percent to 8,740 yen.

Reuters>