Nikkei gains 1.8 pct, ends best quarter since 1995
* Nikkei up 23 pct in April-June, best qtrly gain since 1995
* Nikkei briefly touches 10,000
* Elpida rises after government says to invest
* Optimism grows ahead of U.S., Japan indicators
TOKYO, June 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average rose 1.8 percent on Tuesday to finish April-June up 23 percent, its best quarterly gain since 1995, buoyed by growing hopes that the worst of the global economic slump may be over.
The Nikkei briefly hit 10,000 for the first time in two weeks, with Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T) surging after Mizuho Securities lifted its rating on the stock.
Elpida Memory Inc (6665.T) rose 1.4 percent after the Japanese government pledged to help prop up the loss-making chip maker, which is set to receive up to $1.7 billion in public and private capital and loans. [ID::nT51912]
Analysts said the market mood continued to brighten as the first quarter of Japan's financial year came to an end, but investor skittishness is likely to spark selling to lock in profits on any rises over 10,000 for a while.
"With the rise to 10,000, the market has factored in a recovery in economic sentiment and corporate earnings to a certain extent," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
Unless the economy and corporate earnings were to strengthen even more than expected, it may be hard for the Nikkei to rise above 10,000 and stay there, Akino said.
The 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio for the MSCI Japan index .MSCIJP is at 30.5, near its highest level in a decade -- an indication that investors have already factored in a sharp recovery in earnings.
The benchmark Nikkei .N225 ended up 174.97 points at 9,958.44, after briefly rising to as high as 10,000.30 and edging up towards an eight-month intraday high of 10,170.82 hit earlier in June.
The Nikkei rose nearly 23 percent in the April-June quarter, its best quarterly gain since a 23.4 percent rise in the July-September quarter of 1995.
The broader Topix rose 1.6 percent to 929.76.
The Bank of Japan's tankan quarterly survey of business sentiment comes out on Wednesday, and among a slew of U.S. indicators is jobs data due out on Thursday.
"It may be overly optimistic, but I think the market mood is changing, that the economic data that both the United States and Japan are waiting for later this week will confirm that their economies have bottomed out," said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy division at Marusan Securities.
Trade was moderate, with 2.1 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section compared with last week's daily average of 2.2 billion.
Advancing shares outnumbered declining shares by 1,255 to 336.
HELP FOR ELPIDA
Elpida, the world's fourth-biggest DRAM maker, became the first company to get government aid under a new scheme that makes public funds available to businesses hit by the global financial crisis, a move the government said was aimed at helping it boost output capacity and cutting costs. [ID:nT51912]
"This is the first company to receive such funds and shows that the government is determined to support the sector, that they're determined as well not to let Elpida fail," said Hajime Kurabayashi, a strategist at Okasan Securities.
Shares of Elpida rose to 1,045 yen, having risen more than 60 percent over the past three months, helped by media reports on government aid.
Resource shares climbed as oil CLc1 powered above $73 per barrel at one point and Shanghai copper rose nearly 1 percent, tracing London gains in the previous session. [ID:nSHA154461]
Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T), Japan's largest trading house, gained 1.7 percent to 1,788 yen, Mitsui & Co (8031.T) rose 2.2 percent to 1,146 yen and Itochu Corp (8001.T) added 2.8 percent to 672 yen.
Among other gainers, Fujifilm Holdings climbed 6.8 percent to 3,060 yen after Mizuho Securities lifted its rating on the stock by two notches to a "1", saying the company was now more likely to achieve record profits in the year ending March 2012.
Consumer loan company Aiful (8515.T) rose by a fifth in value to 371 yen after Goldman Sachs raised its rating to "buy" from "neutral", saying the stock looked attractive after steep falls had factored in the risk of failure.
Japanese consumer lenders have been hit by tougher regulation that has cut the maximum interest they can charge on loans. In addition, courts have forced them to return past interest charges now deemed illegally high. (Additional reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
