Nikkei up but top-heavy, exporters and NEC gain

                                
 * Nikkei up but top-heavy before U.S. jobs data
                                
 * NEC surges after share sale news on short-covering
                                
 * Pioneer climbs on ratings hike, cut in fund-raising
                                
 By Elaine Lies
                                
 TOKYO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average rose
0.9 percent on Friday as exporters such as Canon Inc <7751.T>
climbed after good U.S. job news renewed hopes about the pace of
economic recovery, with tech shares up after gains by their U.S.
peers.
                                
 Pioneer Corp <6773.T> advanced 8 percent to 244 yen after UBS
upgraded the consumer electronics company to "neutral" from
"sell" after it said on Thursday that it needs to raise less
funds than previously planned.
                                
 But the market's gains were limited by wariness ahead of U.S.
jobs data due on Friday as well as by longer-term uncertainty
about the Japanese market, which some analysts said reflected
concern about more potential corporate fundraising.
"Japanese shares aren't rising compared to the rest of Asia
because there aren't a lot of merits for investors, they aren't
going to make money due to fundraising," said Tomomi Yamashita, a
fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.
 "As long as this funding risk is there, nobody's going to
want to buy even with good earnings results. They'll just buy
companies that are fiscally sound."
                                
 In one example, T&D Holdings Inc <8795.T> dropped 11 percent
to 2,115 yen, becoming the biggest drag on the Nikkei 225, after
the insurance company gave notice on Thursday that it may raise
up to 120 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to repay debt by selling new
shares. [ID:nT182153]
                                
 The benchmark Nikkei <.N225> rose 84.81 points to 9,802.25 on
Friday after marking a one-month closing low on Thursday, and it
looked headed for its second straight week of falls.
                                
 The broader Topix <.TOPX> rose 0.1 percent to 875.38.
                                
 Both underperformed the rest of Asia, with the MSCI Index of
Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rising 1.6
percent as of 0428 GMT. Some analysts said that with earnings
mostly over, Japanese stock markets are searching for new
factors.
                                
 On Thursday, figures showed U.S. non-farm productivity rose
more than expected in the third quarter, while a separate report
showed fewer U.S. workers filed new jobless insurance claims than
forecast last week, hitting a 10-month low.
                                
 The U.S. government is scheduled to release its key monthly
jobs report on Friday, with economists polled by Reuters
forecasting a loss of 175,000 jobs in October, sharply below the
263,000jobs cut in the previous month. But the unemployment rate
is forecast to rise to 9.9 percent.
NEC Corp <6701.T> surged 9.3 percent to 271 yen despite
Japan's biggest PC maker saying it plans to raise up to $1.5
billion in shares. Sources had earlier told Reuters the offer was
to shore up its capital and invest in growth businesses.
[ID:nT212429]
                                
 Market analysts said that since the news that NEC might raise
funds had been out in the market for several months and sharply
depressed the share price, the actual announcement was factored
in and a wave of short-covering emerged.
Canon and other exporters gained after Wall Street jumped on
the jobs data, with Canon gaining 3 percent to 4,820 yen and
Honda Motor Co <7267.T> up 1.3 percent to 2,820 yen. Sony Corp
<6758.T> gained 1.8 percent.
 (Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)