* Nikkei claws up just before close, but trade light
* Toray jumps, Konica Minolta tumbles after earnings
* Eyes on U.S. jobs data later in the day
* After bell, Bridgestone posts Q2 loss but lifts outlook
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average hit its highest close in 10 months on Friday, helped by companies such as Toray Industries which had surprisingly good earnings reports.
Without other convincing market-moving news, earnings results took centre stage. While investors bought shares of companies with upbeat results, they punished those with disappointing numbers.
Konica Minolta Holdings tumbled 10 percent after the company said it swung into the red in the first quarter, prompting Nomura Securities to cut its rating to "neutral" from "buy" and to lower its target price.
Before managing to eke out small gains at the last minute, the benchmark index spent most of the day in negative territory.
"Investors who started the day by selling stock futures, expecting a slow trading day ahead of key U.S. jobs data, bought them back going into the close," said Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general manager of the sales promoting department at Cosmo Securities.
"Generally speaking, the upward trend will likely continue, backed by signs of a steady recovery in the economy, though I expect some pauses along the way."
In light trade, the Nikkei inched up 0.2 percent to 10,412.09, its highest close since Oct. 6. It posted a 0.5 percent gain on the week.
The broader Topix dipped 0.1 percent to 956.76.
U.S. stocks fell on Thursday on investor caution ahead of the jobs data.
The U.S. economy is expected to have lost 320,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July, a hefty number but still an improvement over last month's drop of 467,000, while the unemployment rate is expected to have risen to 9.6 percent.
Analysts said that while expectations are not as high as they were last month, when the figures were an unhappy surprise that sent markets tumbling, some weak U.S. economic data this week has cooled investor optimism about the speed of economic recovery.
"Part of the problem with last month's jobs data was that people were expecting too much, but I think this time they're a bit more realistic," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
"Even if the figures aren't that good, the market's prepared to an extent. Once the data's out we can move on."
After the close, top Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone reported an operating loss in the second quarter, but it raised its full-year outlook on cost cuts.
The stock ended the day 0.2 percent lower at 1,690 yen before the announcement.
TORAY JUMPS, KONICA MINOLTA LOSES FOOTING
The Nikkei is likely to drift in a narrow range around 10,300 for the next few weeks, with attention shifting to macroeconomic indicators and Japan's Aug. 30 general election, but longer range targets remain the psychologically important 10,500 and then 10,800 -- the Nikkei's level last October.
Toray Industries surged 7.3 percent to 515 yen after raising its first-half operating forecast due to deeper cost cuts.
The fibreglass maker cut its first-half operating loss forecast to 5 billion yen from 15 billion yen, while keeping its full-year outlook.
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co shot up 6.9 percent to 1,126 yen after posting an 81 percent rise in operating profit for the first quarter from a year earlier, helped by strong sales of new skincare products and solid demand for sunscreen due to a sunny April.
Mitsubishi Rayon jumped 5.8 percent to 273 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported the company plans to set up a joint venture with Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) to produce material used for acrylic glass in Saudi Arabia.
But Konica Minolta plunged 10.1 percent to 891 yen. For the three months to June, the company recorded an operating loss of 589 million yen, compared with a 24.5 billion yen profit a year earlier.
"Results for 10/3 (the year to March 2010) Q1 revealed a much greater downturn for color copiers than we had previously anticipated," Nomura's Japanese equity research analyst wrote in a client note.
Kubota Corp sank 6.1 percent to 765 yen after the machinery maker reported a 70 percent drop in quarterly operating profit, citing slow demand for farm equipment and a stronger yen.
Some 1.9 billion shares changed hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, below last week's daily average of 2 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones, 903 to 624. (Additional reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Joseph Radford)