Nikkei up 0.5 pct, exporters gain on weak yen

                                
   * Nikkei up 0.5 pct a day after closing at nearly 4-month low
                                
* Trade muted, market seeks direction after Wall St mixed
                                
* Exporters gain after dollar hits 6-week high against yen
 (Adds stocks, details)
                                
 By Elaine Lies
                                
 TOKYO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average rose
0.5 percent on Thursday, a day after closing at its lowest in
nearly four months, with exporters leading the market higher
after the dollar climbed above 93 yen for the first time in six
weeks.
                                
 The weaker yen boosted tech shares such as Kyocera Corp
<6971.T> as well, while automakers such as Honda Motor Co
<7267.T> gained on short covering.
                                
 But investors remained wary due to deepening recession
worries in the United States and Japan.
                                
 "Everyone is gradually understanding just how serious the
economic situation is in both countries," said Fujio Ando, senior
managing director at Chibagin Asset Management.
                                
 "There's also some disappointment in the market because (U.S.
President Barack) Obama's housing plan doesn't appear to contain
anything fresh."
                                
 Some said the benchmark Nikkei <.N225> could soon test the
26-year low of 6,994.90 hit in October.
                                
 "You can't completely dismiss that possibility," said
Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
                                
 "The downside appears likely to hold for now at around 7,500,
but if it falls through that there's not much to stop it. Still,
there's not the same kind of worry about the U.S. financial
system that there was last year, so sentiment is a bit
different."
                                
 The dollar rose above 93 yen <JPY=> on Wednesday after Obama
pledged up to $275 billion to stem U.S. home foreclosures, but
the move was not enough to calm Wall Street fears about the
housing market and economy, sending the S&P 500 and Nasdaq
marginally lower while the Dow edged marginally higher.
                                
 Tokyo trade was muted, with many investors waiting to see the
results of a two-day Bank of Japan policy meeting that ends later
on Thursday in hopes of some sort of measures to ease corporate
credit strains.
                                
 The BOJ is likely to keep interest rates unchanged but may
extend its buying of commercial paper beyond March to support an
economy mired in its deepest slump in more than three decades.
[ID:nT161933]
                                
 The Nikkei gained 37.93 points to 7,572.37 after closing on
Wednesday at 7,534.44, its lowest point in nearly four months.
The broader Topix <.TOPX> rose 0.4 percent to 752.35.
                                
 EXPORTERS EDGE HIGHER
                                
 Exporters in Tokyo rose as the dollar held well above 93 yen,
even though at 93.67 it had edged down 0.1 percent <JPY=>.
                                
 Investors dislike a stronger yen because it eats into
exporter profits when repatriated.
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> gained 2.3 percent to 3,130 yen
and Honda Motor Co <7267.T> rose 1.3 percent to 2,280. Canon
gained 1.1 percent to 2,340 yen and Sony Corp <6758.T> rose 2.6
percent to 1,643 yen.
Kyocera rose 3.1 percent to 5,910 yen and TDK Corp <6762.T>
climbed 1.2 percent to 3,430 yen after their U.S. peers gained on
bargain hunting as well as the weaker yen.
                                
 But Japan Airlines Corp <9205.T> dipped after the Nikkei
business daily said the airline is in talks on securing up to
$2.1 billion in government loans and may also tap a new
government programme that gives businesses capital infusions.
[ID:nT215600]
                                
 JAL spokesman Taro Namba said his firm was not in talks with
authorities for loans. When asked if the airline was considering
such loans, he said that nothing specific had been decided.
                                
 JAL lost 1.1 percent to 177 yen.
                                
 Chip-related shares fell after an industry group said the
book-to-bill ratio for Japanese chip-making equipment stood at
0.55 in January, meaning that for every 100 yen of sales there
were new orders worth 55 yen.
                                
 The figure was down from 0.70 the previous month, the
Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said.
[ID:nTKG004287]
                                
 Advantest Corp <6857.T>, the world's biggest maker of
semiconductor testers, slid 2 percent to 1,294 yen and Tokyo
Electron <8035.T> shed 0.6 percent to 3,140 yen.
                                
 Trade was light on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with
872 million shares changing hands, compared with last week's
morning average of 896 million.
                                
 Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones, 800 to 741.
 (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Hugh Lawson)