Tokyo stocks hold onto U.S. gains

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks were firmer by midday Thursday on good news from U.S. tech issues Yahoo, Motorola and Microsoft. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.47 percent or 176.40 points to 12,181.51.

Other markets in the region also responded to the positive news, with Seoul's Kospi up about 10 points to 563.62 on gains by key stocks SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 rose 8.2 points to 3386.2. Telco leader Telstra was again stronger, up 2 cents to $5.44, while Telecom NZ and Hutchison Australia also made gains.

Taiwan's Taiex rebounded by almost 90 points or 2 percent to 4637.63, and New Zealand was also higher.

In Japan, the capital-weighted TOPIX index added 0.64 percent to 1.235.44 in the morning session

Deep-seated concerns remain in Japan

But while the TOPIX and the Nikkei were both up, there remain deep-seated concerns about the corporate profit picture in Japan.

At one point the Nikkei reached 12,280.54 for a 2.4 percent gain on the previous day's close of 12,005.11. It is still 16 percent below a year-to-date high marked on May 7.

"We appreciate the bright news out of the U.S. and we're seeing buyers scoop up the bottom against that backdrop," said Hideki Kamiya, fund manager at Asahi Tokyo Investment Trust Management.

"But it's not as if a major Japanese firm has come out with a piece of good news on the earnings front," added Kamiya, whose firm oversees $3 billion of investment trusts.

Sony regains some ground

Batered tech issues such as Sony Corp and Tokyo Electron helped boost both major indices.

Consumer electronics manufacturer Sony was up 4.28 percent to 7,310 yen, while semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron gained 6.87 percent to 7,160 yen.

Providing the spark for Japan's technology spurt was Motorola, the world's number two mobile phone maker, and Yahoo, one of the most popular Web sites. After the closing bell in the United States on Wednesday, both posted quarterly results that edged ahead of analysts' consensus estimates.

Software giant Microsoft Corp also said quarterly revenues would come in stronger than expected.

Internet portal Yahoo Japan surged 8.11 percent to 3.60 million yen, while Fujitsu was up 3.54 percent at 1,227 yen.

Reuters contributed to this report.