Japan's Nikkei reverses early fall as Kioxia rebounds

By Junko Fujita

TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average recouped early losses on Wednesday to trade slightly higher as memory chip maker Kioxia rebounded, while the broader Topix gained 1% as investors grew confident about the domestic corporate outlook.

The Nikkei .N225 rose 0.3% to 62,930.2 by the midday break after falling as much as 0.67% earlier. The broader Topix .TOPX rose 1.01% to 3,912.14.

"There are still uncertainties in the market, but domestic firms have reported a relatively strong outlook," said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.

"The market had expected companies to flag a modest outlook (this earnings season), but it turned out that overall it was not as weak as they had expected."

Shares of Olympus Corp 7733.T jumped 16.52% after the medical equipment maker forecast annual net profit ahead of market expectations and announced a share buyback plan.

Kioxia 285A.T rose 5.12% after early losses to become the biggest source of the Nikkei's gain. Its gains covered the losses of chip-related heavyweights Advantest 6857.T and Tokyo Electron 8035.T, which fell 3.15% and 2.03%, respectively.

Kioxia, which joined the Nikkei 225 in April, saw trading value of its shares hit 24 trillion yen ($152.20 billion) last month, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a record high since the exchange created the prime market in its exchange reform in 2022.

Fibre optic cable maker Furukawa Electric 5801.T surged 15.07%, extending gains from the previous session. It jumped 16% on Tuesday after announcing a stock split.

Of the Nikkei members, 157 stocks rose, 65 fell and three traded flat.

Trading firms rose, with Mitsubishi Corp 8058.T and Mitsui & Co 8031 up 6.36% and 4.99%, respectively.

An index for trading houses .IWHOL.T jumped 4% to become the top performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes.

Toyota Motor 7203.T rose 2.2% after sixth-session losing streak, while Honda Motor 7267.T gained 2.2%.

($1 = 157.6900 yen)