Tokyo stocks likely to gain on Dow and soft yen

TOKYO, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average is likely to open higher on Tuesday and may rise above the psychologically key 17,000 as investor snap up exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T) following a jump on Wall Street and a fall in the yen.

KDDI Corp (9433.T) will be a focal point after the Nikkei business daily said the mobile phone operator plans to introduce a new fee system in November that cuts call charges by roughly 30 percent but raises handset prices in turn. KDDI rival NTT DoCoMo (9437.T) is expected to follow suit, the newspaper said.

Another stock in the spotlight is Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (6752.T) after the Nikkei said it sold all 17 of its large domestic distribution facilities to a real estate developer and will use the 85 billion yen in proceeds to strengthen its core businesses such as plasma screen TVs.

"Exporters are likely to lead the market on the yen's slide against the dollar. Financials are also expected to be bought amid growing expectations that the worst may soon be over" in the market turmoil of the last few months, said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager of equity marketing at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

Still, he said the upside was also heavy as investors remain cautious about making big bets ahead of U.S. employment data due out later this week.

"The Nikkei is likely to test 17,000, but it's unlikely investors will keep buying to send the index further up," he said.

Market participants said the benchmark Nikkei average .N225 will likely move between 16,900 and 17,100 on Tuesday.

Nikkei futures traded in Chicago 2NKc1 finished Monday at 17,115, which was 265 points above the Osaka JNIc1 close, pointing to a higher opening.

The Nikkei finished Monday up 0.4 percent at 16,845.96.

U.S. stocks surged on Monday, sending the Dow to a record close as investors bet that Wall Street may have seen the worst of the credit squeeze after three global banks detailed expected losses from the crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI finished up 1.4 percent at 14,087.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC rose 1.5 percent.

The dollar was traded around at 115.80 yen JPY= after climbing 0.8 percent to 115.71 yen in New York on soaring U.S. stock prices.

STOCKS TO WATCH

-- Sony Corp (6758.T)

Sony's financial arm will raise $3 billion after setting its IPO price at the top end of an indicated range as investors looked past the U.S. subprime crisis and bet on its growth potential in the banking and insurance markets. [ID:nT14108]

-- Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T)