Nikkei up 1.3 pct; Kyocera, other exporters gain

TOKYO, July 13 (Reuters) A surge on Wall Street buoyed Japanese stocks by 1.33 percent on Friday as investors bought blue-chip issues such as Kyocera Corp.

Metal shares also gained on global mergers and acquisitions hopes by association after Rio Tintopartment at Shinko Securities.

''It just boils down to a jump in U.S. stocks,'' Miura said.

But he said the market is unlikely to keep advancing amid a lack of domestic factors for trade, and as the U.S. market rose largely on short-covering following solid earnings results, rather than after solving subprime mortgage problems.

''The Nikkei is likely to hover around the 18,200 level, and then is likely to move little because it's also the weekend,'' Miura said.

The benchmark Nikkei was up 239.28 points at 18,223.42 as of 0051 GMT.

The broader TOPIX index climbed 1.33 percent to 1,786.46.

Shares of high-tech exporters gained, with Kyocera up 2.1 percent at 13,060 yen, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. added 2.6 percent to 9,040 yen.

Auto shares rose, with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. gaining 2 percent to 4,570 yen.

Shares of metal companies also advanced. Mitsubishi Materials Corp. jumped 3.7 percent to 734 yen, and Dowa Holdings added 1.7 percent to 1,401 yen.

REUTERS PDS BST0735