Japan Hot Stocks-Renesas, Nihon Kohden, PC-related firms, Izumi
TOKYO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average advanced0.3 percent and the broader TOPIX rose 0.6 percent onThursday morning.
The following stocks were on the move.
**RENESAS UP AS MORE EMPLOYEES TAKE UP REDUNDANCY SCHEME**
Struggling chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corpjumped 7.8 percent to 303 yen on short-squeeze after it said alarger-than-expected number of employees volunteered for itsredundancy scheme.
About 7,500 employees volunteered to resign withcompensation, the company said after the market hours onWednesday. The firm had expected about 5,000 workers to opt forthe scheme.
The implementation of the scheme will reduce cost by 54billion yen per year, the company said.
Short-selling interest in Renesas remained high, with 89.93percent of its stock available to be borrowed already out onloan as of Oct. 2, down from 92.04 percent on Sept. 7, accordingto data provider Markit.
0205 GMT
**NIHON KOHDEN HIS 2-MTH HIGH, J.P. MORGAN LIFTS PRICE TARGET**
Nihon Kohden Corp gained 4.4 percent to 2,744 yenafter trading as high as 2,770 yen to a two-month high afterJ.P. Morgan raised its price target on the medical equipmentmaker to 4,100 yen from 3,700, saying it expected the firm toovershoot its first-half earnings guidance on strong Japanesesales.
"It appears that a strong domestic showing is offsetting ashortfall on aggressive overseas sales targets. If this year istypical, deliveries of rival goods to public hospitals willincrease in 2H," J.P. Morgan said in a note.
"Yet, even assuming that the cost ratio held essentiallyunchanged year-on-year in the July-September quarter, NihonKohden should still have overshot its 5 billion yen 1H operatingprofit target by at least 10 percent."
The brokerage raised its operating profit forecast for theyear ending March 2013 by 8 percent to 14.3 billion yen, andmaintained its 'overweight' rating.
0145 GMT
**PC-RELATED COMPANIES HURT BY HP OUTLOOK WARNING**
Personal computer-related companies suffered afterHewlett-Packard Co warned of an unexpectedly steep fallin earnings in 2013, with revenue set to fall in every businessdivision except software.
Nidec Corp dropped 3.1 percent to a more thanthree-year low at 5,350 yen. The maker of precision motors wasalso weighed down by J.P. Morgan's downgrade to 'neutral' from'overweight'.
TDK Corp lost 2.5 percent to 2,791 yen, also hurtby a price target cut to 3,200 yen from 3,640 by J.P. Morgan.Ibiden Co Ltd shed 4.1 percent to 1,011 yen, hitting anine-year low.
On Nidec, J.P. Morgan said: "We think the current shareprice reflects the company's dominant growth potential withinthe sector, and thus see only limited upside amid a forecast forno improvement in PC sentiment."
0119 GMT
**IZUMI HITS NEARLY 5-YEAR HIGH ON SHARE BUYBACK PLAN**
Izumi Co Ltd jumped 17.7 percent to 1,926 yen, itshighest level since December 2007, after the supermarketoperator said it would spend up to 8 billion yen to buy back upto 4 million of its own shares, or 5.1 percent of its issuingshares, between Oct. 4 and Dec. 28.
0058 GMT
**TOMY UP ON POKEMON GLOBAL MARKETING RIGHT**
Tomy Co Ltd climbed 6.4 percent to 434 yen after the Nikkeinewspaper said the toy maker has acquired the right to developand market Pokemon character goods globally in an aim to expandits sales.
The business daily said Tomy would take over Pokemonoperations in Europe and the United States from Bandai Co, aunit of Namco Bandai Holdings Inc , and local firms.
Namco Bandai slipped 2.1 percent to 1,274 yen.
0040 GMT
**NIKON HITS 3-WEEK LOW ON REPORT OF WEAKER H1 EARNINGS**
Nikon Corp sagged 4.5 percent to a three-week lowof 2,017 yen after the Nikkei business daily said the cameramaker was likely to post an operating profit for the first halfended in September of around 35 billion yen ($446 million),below a market consensus estimate of 40 billion yen.
The newspaper said the 43 percent drop in first-halfoperating profit was due to weak sales of chipmaking devices anda strong yen.
Nikon is due to report its interim earnings later thismonth.
0023 GMT
**CANON FALLS AFTER HEWLETT-PACKARD WARNS ON 2013 EARNINGS**
Canon Inc shed 3 percent to 2,478 yen after itsclient Hewlett-Packard Co warned of an unexpectedlysteep earnings slide in 2013, with revenue set to fall in everybusiness division except software.
A trader said 20 percent of Canon's sales go toHewlett-Packard.
Canon was the most traded stock by turnover on the mainboard, while rival firm Ricoh Co Ltd dropped 2.7percent to 698 yen.
0010 GMT($1 = 78.5300 Japanese yen)
(Reporting by Dominic Lau; Editing by Edmund Klamann, PrateekChatterjee and G. Ram Mohan)
((dominic.lau@thomsonreuters.com)(+81 3 6441 1917)(ReutersMessaging: dominic.lau.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS JAPAN STOCKS HOT/