Tokyo stocks gains seen limited ahead of earnings

TOKYO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks are seen rising on
Monday following gains on Wall Street, but moves are likely to be
limited ahead of earnings announcements by blue-chip firms.

Among stocks in the spotlight are Softbank Corp (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and
Yahoo Japan Corp (4689.T: Quote, Profile, Research).

They and other Internet shares are likely to grab investors'
attention following Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) $44.6 billion offer
for Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research), a bid to catch up with market leader
Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

Softbank owns 3.9 percent of Yahoo Inc in terms of voting
rights. Yahoo Japan is owned 41 percent by Softbank and 33
percent by Yahoo Inc.

"The market is likely to rise across the board today," said
Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Shinko Securities.

But he said the benchmark indexes are expected to move
narrowly after initial gains, as investors are cautiously
watching corporate earnings. "We have been seeing some companies
cut their forecasts," he said.

Steelmaker JFE Holdings Inc (5411.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and telecom giant NTT
(9432.T: Quote, Profile, Research) are among firms announcing their earnings on Monday,
while Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) will do so later this week.

Market participants see the Nikkei average .N225 as likely
to move between 13,500 and 13,800 on Monday.

Nikkei futures traded in Chicago 2NKc1 finished at 13,800
on Friday, 310 points above the Osaka JNIc1 close. The Nikkei
fell 0.97 percent last week.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2304 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1395.42 1.22% 16.870
USD/JPY <JPY=> 106.64 0.12% 0.130
10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR> 3.5963 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD <XAU=> 904.5 -0.60% -5.500
US CRUDE CLc1 88.64 -0.36% -0.310
DOW JONES .DJI 12743.19 0.73% 92.83
-------------------------------------------------------------
> Wall St rises on tech bid; best week since March '03[.N]
> Mixed data leaves dollar up vs euro, sterling [USD/]
> Job cuts keep recession bid in bonds [US/]
> Gold slides from record high, PGMs hold gains [GOL/]
> Oil drops 3 pct on signs of economic weakness [O/R]
STOCKS TO WATCH

-- Softbank Corp (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Yahoo Japan Corp (4689.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and
other Internet-related stocks

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) offered to buy Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) for
$44.6 billion in a bold bid to transform two ailing Internet
businesses into a worthy competitor for market leader Google Inc
(GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research). [ID:nN01391944]

Softbank Corp owns 3.9 percent of Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in terms
of voting rights. Yahoo Japan is owned 41 percent by Softbank and
33 percent by Yahoo Inc.

A Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo Inc would likely result in
an alliance among Microsoft, Softbank and Yahoo Japan,
establishing a more potent challenge to Google in the Japanese
market, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

-- Sharp Corp (6753.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

Sharp reported a 5.5 percent rise in quarterly operating
profit to a record high, as rivals delayed opening new plants,
slowing price declines for the big LCD panels it specialises in.
It left its full year outlook unchanged. [ID:nT166333]

-- NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

Japan's No.1 mobile phone firm said on Friday it planned to
sell its 49 percent stake in U.S.-based Telargo, a provider of
wireless location services, to Telargo's Slovenia-based
shareholder Ultra d.o.o.

DoCoMo declined to disclose the sale price but said it had
obtained the stake in August 2005 for 3.1 billion yen ($29.10
million). [ID:nTFA002976]

-- Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

Toyota is considering setting up its eighth assembly plant in
China, which would boost the automaker's annual output there to 1
million cars, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.
[ID:nT147021]

-- Nintendo (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research)

Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp's
(6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 by 3-to-1 in Japan in January, even as
game makers eye an expected surge in software sales, a game
magazine publisher said on Friday. [ID:nT171451]

-- Japan Tobacco (2914.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

Japan's securities watchdog has launched an investigation
into possible insider trading in Japan Tobacco's stock ahead of
an announcement to recall Chinese-made dumplings contaminated
with pesticide, local media reported. [ID:nT264346]

-- Daiichi Sankyo (4568.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

A U.S. advisory panel on Friday voted against recommending
broad use of a Daiichi Sankyo injectable anaemia drug but backed
the treatment for some women. [ID:nN01461907]

-- Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

Nissan reported a 16 percent rise in quarterly profit on
Friday, helped by popular vehicles such as the Rogue and Qashqai
SUVs, but warned a weak dollar and U.S. economic woes meant a
rougher road lay ahead.

Excluding an accounting change, third-quarter operating
profit fell 7.2 percent but Japan's No.3 automaker, which is 44
percent owned by Renault SA (RENA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), stuck to its forecast for
annual operating profit to rise 3 percent. [ID:nT187714]

After the results, Nissan's new chief financial officer told
Reuters in an interview he would not characterise the Japanese
automaker's share price as undervalued, stressing that meeting
business targets was key to a better stock market performance.
[ID:nT164781]

-- Eisai (4523.T: Quote, Profile, Research)

Eisai Co Ltd (4523.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it will be unable to
seek early approval of its key breast cancer drug candidate in
the United States because a rival drug maker had pre-empted it.
[ID:nT168717]

-- Nidec (6594.OS: Quote, Profile, Research)

Nidec Corp, the world's biggest maker of motors used in hard
disk drives, posted a 50 percent rise in quarterly net profit to
13.95 billion yen on Friday on brisk sales of its motors and
electronic parts for hard disk drives, games and cars.

It kept its full-year outlook for a 45 billion yen net
profit, up 13 percent from the previous year.

-- Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Qol Co (3034.OJ: Quote, Profile, Research)

Mitsubishi Corp plans to take a 25 percent stake in Yakuju
Corp, Japan's ninth-biggest prescription pharmacy operator, to
form a capital and business alliance, the Nikkei business daily
reported on Saturday.

Mitsubishi already has a 20.3 percent stake in Qol Co,
Japan's fifth-largest prescription pharmacy operator. By putting
both firms under its umbrella Mitsubishi aims to strengthen its
medical-related business, the newspaper said.
($1=106.51 Yen)
(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka, Editing by Michael Watson)