Nikkei advances after Greece seals austerity deal

* Nikkei up 0.6 pct, resistance at 200-day moving average
* Shrugs off bigger-than-expected Japan Q4 GDP contraction
* Softbank jumps on report of lead in mobile spectrum race
* Tepco ends up after Japan approve 690 bln yen support
* Fanuc gains on report to double domestic tools output

By Mari Saito
TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average rebounded
from two days of losses on Monday after Greece approved a
painful austerity bill in return for a second European bailout,
but further gains may be difficult amid protests in Athens and
chart resistance at its 200-day moving average.
The Nikkei gained 0.6 percent to 8,999.18 but fell
short of last week's February options settlement price of
9,011.16 and its 200-day moving average near 9,055.
"Investors are picking up financials and taking
profit in cyclicals that gained last week, which is a sign that
investors are considering the news out of Greece as one step
forward," said Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online
Securities.
"But markets have been disappointed over and over again by
empty political promises and lack of action and the
demonstrations in Greece are a source of concern," said Ito.
Protests against the strict austerity reforms raged in
Athens, while the departure of six Greek cabinet ministers
underscored the difficulty of implementing unpopular steps.
Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities
said even if the Nikkei rose above its 200-day moving average it
would be a momentary move.
"There's really no domestic factor to attract foreign buying
that's more than short-covering and I do have doubts on whether
we'll really see 15-20 percent profit increases in the next
quarter," he said.
Results in Japan's corporate earnings season have been
disappointing so far. Out of 147 Nikkei companies that have
reported, 65 percent failed to meet market expectations, Thomson
Reuters StarMine data showed. That compares with 31 percent for
S&P 500 companies.
The broader Topix ended up 0.3 percent to 781.68 and
rose above its 200-day average at 780.88. Volume was lighter,
with 2.05 billion shares changing hands on the main board, down
from 2.36 billion shares on Friday.
"We have seen pretty decent flow today. We were skewed to
buying," a sales trader at a foreign bank said, adding that
domestic investors were selling, which curbed the market.

SOFTBANK, TEPCO
The benchmark Nikkei is up 6.4 percent so far this year,
boosted by a brightening outlook for the U.S. economy and an
injection of 489 billion euros ($644.9 billion) in three-year
loans by the European Central Bank, and some remained upbeat on
the market.
"I recommend the exporters, especially the high tech sector,
and also the high beta and low price-to-book ratio (stocks). A
typical sector would be financial sector," said Shoji Hirakawa,
chief strategist at UBS, was upbeat on the market, adding that
investors should sell defensive stocks.
He said the market had discounted Japan's economy shrinking
a bigger-than-expected 0.6 percent in October-December.
"The key point is not this quarter's growth, last quarter's
growth but next fiscal year's growth from April. The Diet passed
a supplementary budget in November," he said, referring to
planned reconstruction after last March's massive earthquake and
tsunami.
Softbank Corp jumped 3.5 percent in heavy volume
after the Nikkei business daily said it was the leading
candidate out of four mobile operators to receive the high speed
frequency 900MHz band.
Tokyo Electric Power Co ended up 0.5 percent higher
after jumping as much as 7 percent in volatile trade at one
point. The Japanese government approved $9 billion in additional
support for the utility, although the trade minister warned it
would not inject taxpayer money unless it got an adequate say in
management.
Among financials, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
added 0.9 percent, Mitsuibishi UFJ Financial Group
put on 0.5 percent, and Mizuho Financial Group
gained 1.6 percent.
Fanuc Ltd, the top weighted winner on the main
board, rose 2.2 percent after a report that the industrial robot
maker plans to build a new factory near Tokyo to double its
domestic output capacity of machine tools that produce
smartphone parts by the end of the year.