TOKYO, Nov 4 - Japanese stocks held on to more than two percent gains by mid-afternoon on Tuesday as Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and other exporters remained firm despite a slip in the dollar from one-month highs against the yen. A steady performance by technology shares such as Canon Inc <7751.T> and Sony Corp <6758.T> also supported the market. "The exchange rate is still at a tolerable level," said Minoru Tada, a director at World Nichiei Securities. "Rather, the market's concern is now the upcoming Lower House elections." The Nikkei average <.N225> was up 2.35 percent at 10,807.33 as of 0446 GMT. The Nikkei rose as far as 10,869.35, its highest since October 22, soon after the opening, up 2.93 percent from the previous close. The broader TOPIX index <.TOPX> advanced 2.17 percent to 1,066.01. The dollar fell to 110 yen from the day's high of 111.02 by noon as Japanese exporters rushed to take advantage of its recent sharp rebound. The dollar hit three-year lows last week. Still, Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> and Toyota were among the top five percentage gainers in the Nikkei, jumping 8.12 percent to 1,332 yen and 7.67 percent to 3,370 yen respectively. The transport equipment index <.ITEQP.T>, which had sagged 1.8 percent due to a strong yen and underperformed the Nikkei's 3.3 percent gain in October, was the best performer of all sectors, rising 5.61 percent to 1,620.82. A strong performance on Wall Street encouraged foreign investors to shop around on the other side of the Pacific and pushed up technology shares.
Consumer electronics giant Sony gained 2.35 percent to 3,920 yen and Japan's largest office machine maker, Canon, climbed 2.82 percent to 5,470 yen. Likewise, large-cap shares such as Tokyo Electron Ltd <8035.T> drew buying. Tokyo Electron, Japan's top semiconductor equipment maker, jumped 8.63 percent to 8,560 yen after the company boosted its full-year forecast on Friday due to rising capital spending by chip producers. Orders for Japanese stocks placed through 11 foreign securities houses before the start of trading showed an intention to buy a net 17.2 million shares, according to market sources. There were buy orders for 41 million shares and sell orders for 23.8 million, the sources said. Tada of World Nichiei Securities said although the market appeared to be gaining momentum, rises would likely be capped ahead of the general election. "Investors' thinking goes that it will not be too late to buy after the election results are out," said Tada, who forecasts the Nikkei to trade in a range of 10,500 to 11,000 this week. Elsewhere, Toppan Printing Co Ltd <7911.T> grabbed the limelight after the Nihon Keizai business daily said on Saturday that the company had developed a technology to produce a low-cost thin film transistor (TFT) that would be used in super-thin TVs. With the technology, the company could produce TFTs thinner than the current two mm (0.07874 inch), the paper said. The company's shares surged 9.62 percent to 1,105 yen. Japanese markets were shut on Monday for a national holiday.//