Japan's Nikkei up 0.4 pct, battery makers higher

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By Aiko Hayashi

TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.4 percent on Wednesday as investors flocked to topical stocks such as car battery maker GS Yuasa Corp (6674.T) in trade that lacked major pillars for the gains.

NEC Electronics (6723.T) surged 10.5 percent after Goldman Sachs raised its rating to "buy" from "neutral", citing the possibility of the firm's earnings beating market forecasts on growth of advanced microchips used in TV sets and mobile handsets.

Market participants said buying of stocks futures helped buoy the overall market.

"Today's peculiar rise seems to be due to derivative-related buying," said Norihiro Fujito, general manager of the investment research and information division at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

"But we have to understand the relatively solid gains stand on very soft ground. They won't keep buying forever."

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 added 57.40 points to end the morning session at 14,405.77.

The broader Topix gained 0.1 percent to 1,403.99.

The dollar stood at 107.95 yen JPY=, little changed from late U.S. trading on Tuesday, having retreated from a four-month high of 108.59 yen hit on trading platform EBS on Monday.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after a major brokerage warned that U.S. banks would have to raise as much as $65 billion in capital to shore up balance sheets weakened by the mortgage crisis. That had little impact on Japanese bank shares.

Shinji Igarashi, equity manager of the sales department at Chuo Securities, said that given a lack of immediate trading factors, investors were looking to Morgan Stanley's (MS.N) quarterly results on Wednesday and the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week.

BATTERY SHARES UP

Japanese car battery makers shot up as investors expected growing worries over global warming and persistently high oil prices to boost demand for electric cars.

GS Yuasa, Japan's largest car battery maker, climbed 5.9 percent to 560 yen, while Furukawa Battery (6937.T) surged 12 percent to 1,343 yen.

Some exporters fell on the slightly firmer yen. Canon Inc (7751.T) fell 0.5 percent to 5,510 yen and Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T) shed 0.3 percent to 3,770 yen.