Nikkei set to trade in range, Greece debt talks eyed

TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
is expected to trade in a range on Monday after hefty gains last
week, with investors remaining vigilant over Europe as Greece
and its private creditors failed to reach a deal over the
weekend to avoid a messy default.
"There could be some selling as a correction to last week's
gains," said Yumi Nishimura, senior technical analyst at Daiwa
Securities.
"Investors will continue to watch the Greek debt talks. If
the results are in line with expectations, that wouldn't have
much market impact, but if there's a negative surprise, that
would stir up worries about the European debt crisis again."
Euro zone finance ministers will decide on Monday what terms
they are ready to accept for a Greek debt restructuring as part
of a second bailout package for Athens.

Resolving the issue of a debt swap is key to putting
Greece's debt on a sustainable path and avoiding a chaotic
default that could threaten the whole currency bloc.
The Nikkei was likely to trade between 8,700 and
8,850, strategists said, while Nikkei futures in Chicago closed at 8,775 on Friday, up 25 points, or 0.3
percent, from the Osaka close of 8,750.
The Nikkei surged 1.5 percent to 8,766.36 on Friday to its
highest closing level in more than two months and gained 3.1
percent for the week. The broader Topix index advanced 2
percent to 755.47 on Friday.
Nikkei's 30-day implied volatility -- the higher the index,
the lower the risk appetite -- eased slightly to 17.3 percent on
Friday, according to data from Thomson Reuters Datastream.
It had been trading in a range from 16.6 to 19.4 percent
since mid-December, though that is down sharply from the 35.3
percent hit in last March after the massive earthquake and
tsunami.

> Dow and S&P 500 post best week since Christmas
> Euro slips from 2-week high, Greek debt deal awaited
> Treasury prices drop on Greece hopes, before supply

> Gold up on euro optimism, silver outshines
> Oil falls on economic, demand concerns

STOCKS TO WATCH
--TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO
Tokyo Electric Power Co will in effect be nationalised for
at least 10 years and is expected to become profitable in its
2013 business year, under a plan by a government body for
funding nuclear disaster compensation, Kyodo news agency
reported on Saturday.
--OLYMPUS CORP
Olympus, struggling to emerge from a $1.7 billion accounting
scandal, will be allowed to stay listed on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange but will be placed on a "security on alert" list for
firms seen needing to urgently improve their internal
management, the bourse said on Friday.
Meanwhile, A group of about 30 consumer affairs lawyers will
ask Olympus shareholders to sue the company and its former
executives for damages from a long-running cover-up of
investment losses, the Nikkei business daily said.

--TOYOTA MOTOR CORP
Toyota Motor Corp is expected to raise its Japan sales
outlook for the year by 100,000 vehicles, hoping to cash in on
the revival of the eco-car subsidy, the Nikkei reported.

--NIPPON STEEL CORP
Nippon Steel's fiscal 2011 group pretax profit will likely
fall 40 percent to about 130 billion yen ($1.69 billion), due to
lower steel prices, a stronger yen, and growing competition from
Asian rivals, the Nikkei said.
--SONY CORP
Sony will transfer domestic construction of lithium ion
batteries used in products like mobile phones and electric cars
overseas by March 2014, as it works to overcome the strong yen,
the Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday.