Japan stocks gain, led by exporters; DoCoMo jumps

(Adds comments and stocks)

By Aiko Hayashi

TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks rose across the board on Tuesday, with exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T) particularly in favour on a soft yen, while bank shares gained on news from Merrill Lynch MER.N that helped spark a rally in U.S. peers.

Shares of NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) jumped more than 3 percent after the Nikkei business daily said Japan's top mobile phone operator plans to tie up with Google Inc (GOOG.O), while shippers powered higher after the same paper reported a big hike in container rates.

"Today's market is simply reflecting rallies in overseas markets during the long weekend," said Tsuyoshi Segawa, an equity strategist at Shinko Securities. "The yen's trading on the 114 yen level also helps exporters by relieving worries about the possibility of downward earnings revisions."

All Japanese financial markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday, the day following the Emperor's Birthday.

Still, Yutaka Miura, deputy manager of the equity information department at Shinko Securities, said investors are unlikely to actively take positions as there are only three more trading days left this year.

The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 ended the morning session up 1.8 percent or 272.43 points at 15,529.43, hitting its highest point since Dec. 14. In the past week it shed 1.7 percent.

The broader TOPIX index gained 1.8 percent or 25.76 points to 1,494.96.

On Monday in New York, the dollar was up 0.3 percent at 114.42 yen JPY=. In Asian trading it was at 114.01 yen JPY=.

U.S. stocks rallied on Monday, led by financial companies after Merrill Lynch shored up its capital base by as much as $7.5 billion.

Despite the gains, Segawa said subprime problems still dictate the direction of the U.S. market.

"The focus will shift to the problems' fallout on the real economies next year," he said.

Trade was thin on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with 678 million shares changing hands, compared with last week's morning average of 834 million.

Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by a ratio of nearly three to one.

EXPORTERS LEAD

A softer yen benefits shares of exporters as it boosts profits when earnings from abroad are brought home.

Shares of Sony climbed 2.6 percent to 6,270 yen, while Kyocera Corp (6971.T) gained 2 percent to 10,010 yen and Fanuc Ltd (6954.T) advanced 2.4 percent to 10,970 yen.

Financial shares shone, with top bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) jumping 3.9 percent to 1,082 yen, No. 2 Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) adding 3.7 percent to 557,000 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), Japan's third-biggest bank, rose 3.5 percent to 868,000 yen.

Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T), Japan's biggest brokerage, gained 2.4 percent to 1,906 yen.

DoCoMo shares rose 3.3 percent to 190,000 yen after the Nikkei business daily said DoCoMo would tie up with Google with a view to adopting the Web giant's search and email features in its mobile phone Internet service. [ID:nT216250]

Shares of Nippon Yusen KK (9101.T) and other shipping firms rose after the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday that freight rates on container ships from Asia to Europe would be raised sharply in 2008 to reflect higher fuel and other costs.

Shares of Nippon Yusen gained 4.2 percent to 918 yen, Mitsui O.S.K Lines Ltd (9104.T) rose 5.4 percent to 1,476 yen and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (9107.T) jumped 5.8 percent to 1,146 yen. Tokyo's sea transport subindex .ISHIP.T surged 5.2 percent, making it the top performing sector. (Editing by Mike Miller)