Japan stocks may rise

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese stocks are likely to keep rising on Wednesday, led by exporters such as Canon Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on a softening yen and after U.S. shares finished at record highs on interest rate cut hopes.

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd (4063.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may be among the gainers. The world's biggest silicon wafer maker is likely to report a record group pretax profit of 300 billion yen ($2.6 billion) for the year ending in March thanks to strong wafer sales, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

"Japanese stocks will likely keep advancing after the Dow and S&P jumped to close at record highs and the yen is relatively weak against the dollar and the euro," said Hiroichi Nishi, a general manager of equity marketing at Nikko Cordial Securities.

"Trade may slow on the upside on concerns the market has risen too high, but the market is still bullish thanks to the improved situation, including receding worries about the health of the U.S. economy and increasing hopes for upward earnings revisions."

Nikkei futures traded in Chicago finished at 17,310 on Tuesday, 110 points above the Osaka close, pointing to a higher opening.

In New York on Tuesday, the dollar slipped 0.3 percent against the yen to 117.14. It was at 117.18 in early Asian trade.

Market participants said the Nikkei will likely trade between 17,100 and 17,350 on Wednesday. The benchmark finished the previous session up 0.6 percent at 17,159.90.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs on Tuesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed inflation expectations were contained, leaving open the question of whether another rate cut was near.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI climbed 0.9 percent to end at 14,164.53, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX ended up 0.8 percent at 1,565.15.