Nasdaq futures drive Nikkei higher

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks opened firmer on Friday, with investors covering short positions in the tech sector after falls in Sony Corp and other high-profile firms in the previous session knocked the market to a near 17-year low.

Traders said an uptick for the Nasdaq futures on Globex had given a shot of optimism to a market weighed down by concerns of dwindling profits in the tech sector and deteriorating economic conditions.

"Basically, the market was oversold yesterday and a lot of the earnings jitters -- especially on Kyocera and Murata -- were worked in then. Players are looking at the Globex and rushing to cover shorts," said Masaharu Sakudo, managing director at Tachibana Securities.

The benchmark Nikkei average was up 0.50 percent, or 55.34 points, at 11,182.26 by 0014 GMT, while the capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 0.48 percent, or 5.51 points, to 1,152.90.

The Nasdaq futures on Globex was up 21 points to 1,523.

Electronics parts maker Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd shot up 8.51 percent to 6,500 yen, while rival components maker Kyocera Corp rose 2.6 percent to 7,490 yen.

After the close on Thursday, Kyocera cut its group net profit forecast for the year to next March almost by half and Murata cut its group net profit projection by 27 percent, underlining the tough conditions now facing electronics components makers.

Analysts said the cut for Murata was not as large as many investors had feared.

Electronics manufacturer Sony perked up 1.98 percent to 5,660 yen, paring Thursday's 4.15 percent dip and boosting sentiment.

Mizuho Holdings Inc, the world's largest banking group, jumped 2.94 percent to 491,000 yen following a newspaper report that it will pay down several hundred billion yen in latent losses from stockholdings in the current business year to March.

Australia, Korea firmer

The Asahi Shimbun daily said Mizuho would do so by tapping about one trillion yen ($8.34 billion) in gains it expects from a merger between Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and Industrial Bank of Japan.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia's All Ordinaries index opened the day firmer, up 12 points to 3276.2 after an hour's trading.

Most of the blue-chip stocks were stronger, with telco giant Telstra Corp up 3c to A$4.85 and the nation's biggest bank the National 33c higher at A$34.68.

Major resource stock BHP Billiton gained 10c to A$9.24 and regional airline player Qantas accelerated 3c to A$2.93.

On the negative side of the ledger, media major News Corporation continued to lose favor, the shares off 19c to A$16.38 in early business.

In Korea, the leading Kospi index shrugged off a negative start to be trading 7 points firmer at 570.17, but in Taipei the Taiwan index had shed 29.49 points to 4430.27 in morning trading.

Reuters contributed to this report.