* Exporters gain as U.S. data boosts hope for economy
* Elpida soars 18 pct on share issue plan
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, March 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.5
percent on Thursday, helped higher by exporters such as Sony Corp
<6758.T> after unexpectedly strong U.S. economic data sparked
hopes for an economic recovery, boosting Wall Street.
Elpida Memory Inc <6665.T> soared 18 percent to 657 yen after
it said it would raise 46 billion yen ($471 million), aiming to
shore up its balance sheet and avoid breaching debt covenants.
[]
Wednesday was the last day for investors to buy many Japanese
stocks and still get dividends on them for the financial year
ending this month. This ex-dividend impact may be lopping about
70-80 points off the Nikkei average <>, market analysts
said.
Drugmakers and other stocks that investors consider to have
high dividend yields lost ground as investors moved to lock in
profits after a recent rally.
"Just as yesterday's U.S. data showed, it seems we're
beginning to see an improvement in data on the economy," said
Soichiro Monji, chief strategist in equity management at Daiwa SB
Investments.
"Even though the speed of gains may slow down a bit, the
upward trend in the market will likely to continue into next
month."
After moving in and out of negative territory, the benchmark
Nikkei <> ended morning trade up 43.10 points at 8,523.09.
It closed 0.1 percent lower the previous day, but was still more
than 10 percent above its 25-day moving average.
The broader Topix <> gained 0.2 percent to 819.75.
The Dow Jones inducent to 1,594 yen.
Fuji Electric Holdings Co <6504.T> rose after the Nikkei
business daily said on Thursday that Fuji and TDK Corp <6762.T>
planned to merge their uninterruptible power supply operations in
October, forming a venture larger than the UPS operations of
current market leader Mitsubishi Electric Corp <6503.T>.
[]
Fuji Electric advanced 3.4 percent to 121 yen, while TDK was
flat at 3,970 yen.
Banks rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group <8306.T>,
Japan's top lender, rising 2.1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui
Financial Group <8316.T> advancing 3.6 percent.
But drugmakers Takeda Pharmaceutical Co <4502.T> lost 4.8
percent to 3,590 yen and Eisai Co <4523.T> sank 4.2 percent to
3,000 yen. The stocks were the top two drags on the Nikkei 225.
Among stocks considered to have stable dividend yields, Tokyo
Electric Power <9501.T> fell 2.9 percent to 2,545 yen, after
gaining the previous day.
Credit Saison Co <8253.T> was untraded due to a glut of buy
orders at 970 yen, 7.8 percent above Wednesday's close of 900
yen, after the consumer lender unveiled a plan to restructure its
affiliate Atrium <8993.T>, an ailing real estate developer.
Atrium plunged 25 percent to 129 yen as Credit Saison said it
would make Atrium a subsidiary, exchanging 0.13 Credit Saison
share for one Atrium share.
Trade was light on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with
905 million shares changing hands, compared with last week's
morning average of 1 billion.
Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by 833 to 745.
(Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
