Nikkei set to rise after strong U.S. tech results

TOKYO, Oct 20 - Japan's Nikkei stock average is set to rise on Tuesday, led by tech shares such as Advantest Corp after Wall Street hit a 12-month high on a wave of solid earnings that reconfirmed the economy is healing.

Japan Airlines Corp will likely draw attention after Kyodo news agency said the struggling carrier was likely to suffer an operating loss of about $2.2 billion this year, or more than three times larger than its prior loss forecast, hit by restructuring and weak sales.

"The Nikkei will rise, based on the Wall Street gains and also rises in futures overseas," said Kenichi Hirano at Tachibana Securities.

"But foreign investors remain lukewarm towards Japanese shares in comparison to other Asian share markets, so this will make it difficult for the Nikkei to renew its high for the year. We'll simply see consolidation at higher levels."

Wall Street climbed after the spate of strong earnings that included Apple Inc's beating estimates as iPhone and Mac sales hit quarterly records.

Chip maker Texas Instruments Inc also posted quarterly profit and revenue that exceeded estimates on better-than-expected chip demand.

But similar to Monday, activity in Japanese stocks is likely to be limited to short-term investors, market players said..

The benchmark Nikkei is likely to move between 10,200 and 10,400, they said. It closed at 10,236.51 on Monday.

In a sign the Nikkei will open higher, Nikkei futures traded in Chicago rose 0.6 percent from the Osaka close of 10,250.

STOCKS TO WATCH

-- Toshiba Machine Co Ltd

Toshiba Machine cut its outlook for the year to next March to a net loss of 3 billion yen instead of a previously forecast 1.1 billion yen profit due to bigger-than-expected declines in capital spending in the autos sector and sluggish demand for machine tools and control systems.

It also forecast a greater tax cost, and it said it will keep its full-year dividend payout undecided, instead of a previous forecast for a 6 yen dividend. -- Nidec Corp

Nidec plans to acquire Sole Motors, a major Italian maker of motors used in washing machines and other home appliances, for about 6 billion yen, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.

-- Advantest Corp

Orders for Advantest's chip-testing devices rose about 21 percent quarter-on-quarter to 14 billion yen in the July-September period, beating the company's forecast by 4 billion yen, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.

The improvement in orders was led by testers for DDR3 chips, which are faster than older types of DRAM and command higher prices, the Nikkei said.

-- KDDI Corp

Operating profit for the April to September period likely fell 5 percent to about 250 billion yen, the Nikkei business daily said.

-- JFE Holdings, Nippon Steel Corp

A rapid recovery in Japan's crude steel output stalled in September after a coke leak problem stopped a blast furnace at Japan's top maker Nippon Steel Corp, but output will resume rising in October, an industry body said on Monday.