Japan stocks may rise on Wall St, but gains limited

TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks are seen rising on
Friday after a Wall Street rebound on a government plan for tax
rebates to stimulate the U.S. economy, but gains will be limited
by fears that the plan is far from enough.

Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS) may be in the spotlight after
saying on Thursday that robust holiday sales of its Wii and DS
game machines helped it more than double its quarterly operating
profit, prompting it to raise its outlook beyond market
expectations. [ID:nT112274]

Wall Street rose as concerns of an economic recession eased
after Congress and the White House agreed on the outlines of an
economic stimulus package that would give 117 million U.S.
families a tax rebate. [nN24242910]

But Japanese market participants remained wary.

"If you look at the U.S. share gains, it was mainly on things
like Internet-linked shares and communications. Banks were close
to flat and monoline companies fell," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a
strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

"Therefore, you can't think that the biggest problems have
been completely dealt with yet."

Such sentiment, along with investor reluctance to hold many
positions ahead of a weekend and big events next week such as
U.S. President George W. Bush's State of the Union address and a
meeting of the Federal Reserve, will keep gains limited.

High-tech stocks could gain some upward impetus from their
New York peers, but rises are likely to be checked by companies
such as Advantest Corp (6857.T), which plunged on Thursday after
halving its earnings outlook.

The Nikkei is expected to move in a range between 13,000 and
13,300, although a brief dip below 13,000 could be possible. It
finished up 2.1 percent on Thursday, at 13,092.78, for its second
straight positive session

In a sign of how the market may fare, Nikkei futures traded
in Chicago 2NKc1 finished at 13,280 compared with 13,060 in
Osaka JNIc1.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2254 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1352.07 1.01% 13.470
USD/JPY JPY= 107.02 -0.13% -0.140
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.7111 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 912.5 0.61% 5.500
US CRUDE CLc1 89.41 0.00% 2.420
DOW JONES .DJI 12378.61 0.88% 108.44
-------------------------------------------------------------
> US STOCKS-Wall St jumps with tax-rebate deal, Qualcomm [.N]
> Euro gains as hopes for ECB rate cut fade [USD/]
> TREASURIES-Bonds drop as stocks reverse safe-haven trade [US]
> Gold tops $910/oz, platinum hits record high [GOL]
> Oil jumps nearly 3 pct on US economic package [O/R]
STOCKS TO WATCH

-- Jafco Co Ltd (8595.T)

Venture capital and buyout firm Jafco Co is auctioning Showa
Yakuhin Kako Co Ltd, after abandoning plans to float the Japanese
dental products and generic drug firm, sources briefed on the
deal said on Thursday. [ID:nT112689]

-- NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T)

NTT DoCoMo said on Thursday that Google Inc's (GOOG.O) search
engine will feature on its handsets. The tie-up will include
Internet searches, e-mail and other services. [ID:nT81797]

-- Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T)

Mizuho Corporate Bank, a unit of Mizuho Financial Group, will
form an alliance with the State Bank of India to provide
financial services to Japanese companies in the fast-growing
Indian market, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

-- Electricity and gas companies

Electricity and gas companies plan to hike their rates for
the April-June period to account for high prices of crude oil and
other fuel, the third straight quarter of price rises, the Nikkei
business daily reported on Friday.

The rate for a typical household customer of Tokyo Electric
Power (9501.T) will rise about 150 yen, or more than 2 percent,
while Tokyo Gas Co (9531.T) and Osaka Gas Co (9532.T) will both
raise their rates by about 160 yen, the newspaper said.

-- Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (9104.T), Nippon Yusen KK (9101.T)
and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (9107.T)

Japan's top three shipping firms are expected to report
strong growth in pretax profit for the nine months ended Dec. 31
thanks to demand for transporting iron ore and other raw
materials on bulk carriers, the Nikkei business daily reported on
Friday.

Mitsui O.S.K.'s pretax profit is expected to have risen about
80 percent year-on-year to about 230 billion yen, profit at
Nippon Yusen is seen up about 70 percent to about 140 billion
yen, and Kawasaki Kisen is estimated to have more than doubled
its profit to almost 100 billion yen, the newspaper said.

-- Nidec Corp (6594.T)

Nidec's group operating profit is expected to have risen 16
percent year-on-year to a record of 57 billion yen in the nine
months ended Dec. 31, helped by robust demand for micromotors,
the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Hugh Lawson)