* Nikkei climbs on weaker yen, hope for U.S. stimulus
* On track for 2nd negative week, 1st time in two months
* Chip shares jump on Intel, Toyota up after output cuts
* Hitachi down on expectations of big loss
(Adds stocks, details)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average climbed 1.3
percent on Friday, with chip stocks surging after reassuring
comments from Intel Corp <INTC.O> and as a weaker yen and
optimism about a fresh U.S. stimulus package lifted sentiment.
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, the world's largest car maker,
rose after it said would cut production at several North American
plants over the next few months in a bid to cut its vehicle
inventory in half. []
But Hitachi Ltd <6501.T>, Japan's biggest electronics maker,
edged lower as it became the latest blue-chip firm to be beset
with losses. Sources said it would likely post an annual net loss
of more than $1.1 billion. []
Hope that steps will be taken for the U.S. economy, including
having the U.S. government give more money to troubled banks,
helped spark buying of the dollar against the yen and lifted U.S.
shares which in turn triggered short-covering of exporters in
Tokyo. <FXNEWS> []
"The question is whether you can really trust the rise in
U.S. shares we saw yesterday," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a
strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
"Certainly there are expectations that things will get better
over the longer-term, but at this point things still look pretty
dark, making it hard to push stocks higher."
The benchmark Nikkei <> appeared headed for its second
consecutive week of losses for the first time since mid-November.
It has so far fallen some 8 percent this week, over 700 points.
The Nikkei gained 101.62 points to 8,124.93. It fell to a
one-month low on Thursday and briefly broke below 8,000. The
broader Topix <> rose 1.2 percent to 805.53.
Optimism that the U.S. government will act to prevent the
recession from deepening, including the Senate's rejection of an
an attempt to block the remaining $350 billion from the financial
bailout fund, offset news that Bank of America <BAC.N> was
seeking more government aid. []
"The details of the new government's policies may help
support a further rebound and could lead to real recovery, though
we could see falls again next month on the poor economy," said
Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Shinko Securities.
But investors continued to worry about banks, especially with
Citigroup <C.N> due to announce more losses and lay out a
strategic plan on Friday. []
CHIP EQUIPMENT MAKERS CLIMB
Chip equipment makers rose after Intel Corp said it expects
margins to bounce back to healthy levels in the second half,
setting off a relief rally since investors had feared the company
would slash revenue expectations for the first quarter.
[]
Tokyo Electron <8035.T> gained 5.7 percent to 3,040 yen and
Sumco <3436.T> surged 8 percent to 1,209 yen. Advantest Corp
<6857.T> rose 2.2 percent.
Hitachi lost 0.9 percent to 341 percent.
Among major exporters, Sony gained 2.2 percent to 2,025 yen
and Canon Inc <7751.T> edged up 0.4 percent to 2,780 yen.
Toyota rose 2.8 percent to 2,920 yen and Honda Motor Corp
<7267.T> climbed 2.9 percent to 1,916 yen.
Trade was light, with 836 million shares changing hands on
the Tokyo exchange's first section compared to last week's
morning average of 1.1 billion.
Advancing shares outpaced declining ones by more than 2 to 1.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
