TOKYO, June 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average is likely to lose momentum on Friday after briefly rising above 10,000 to an eight-month high the previous day, but resource shares such as trading houses may benefit from higher commodity prices such as oil.
"The market will probably have a solid start, but it's likely to run out of steam later in the day as it lacks factors to keep pushing the market higher," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"Resource and commodity-related stocks will likely attract demand, but as a whole, we have begun to see some selling pressure after sharp gains."
Nikkei futures traded in Chicago ended at 10,000 on Thursday, down 0.2 percent from the Osaka close.
It slipped 0.1 percent the previous day to end at 9,981.33, after briefly rising as high as 10,022.23, its highest since Oct. 7 and up roughly 43 percent from its March bear market low.
Market participants expect the benchmark Nikkei to move between 9,800 and 10,100 on Friday.
The settlement price of Nikkei futures and options contracts expiring in June will be calculated in early Friday trade.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 percent to 8,770.92, as crude oil surged briefly to more than $73 a barrel and lifted shares of resource companies, such as Chevron.
A sharp drop in interest rates also aided Wall Street as stocks have tracked bonds of late, with higher rates causing concern among investors as they could hinder an economic recovery. > Oil's spike, retail and jobless data lift Wall St > Dollar falls as appetite for higher yields rises > Robust long-bond auction spurs rally > Gold rises as weakening dollar boosts hedge buying > Oil climbs over $73 on hopes for rising demand
STOCKS TO WATCH
-- Edion Corp, Kojima Co Ltd
Edion and Kojima, Japan's No. 2 and No. 6 electronics retailers, have decided to form a capital alliance, with an eye towards possibly merging their operations in the future, the Asahi newspaper reported on Friday.
Combing forces would also allow them to better compete with industry leader Yamada Denki Co Ltd, the paper said.
-- Toshiba Corp
Toshiba will shut some of its chip production units and has annulled a recently announced spin-off, in a bid to revamp its loss-laden chip operations, the Nikkei business daily reported.
-- NEC Electronics Corp
NEC Electronics will likely end the April-June quarter with a group operating loss of about 20 billion yen ($204.5 million), as sales of chips for use in information devices and automobiles remain weak, the Nikkei business daily said.
-- Komatsu Ltd
Construction machinery maker Komatsu will likely have free cash flow of about 80 billion yen ($817.9 million) for the 2009 fiscal year, the Nikkei business daily reported.
-- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd
Mitsubishi Heavy is close to securing a deal to construct the world's first large-scale coal gasification power plant in Queensland, Australia, the Nikkei business daily reported.
The total orders from the project are estimated at around 200 billion yen ($2.05 billion), the paper said. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)