TOKYO, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average is likely to rise on Friday after U.S. stocks gained, with better-than-expected earnings by Wal-Mart Stores Inc helping offset disappointing data on retail sales and jobs.
Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd may be in focus after the Nikkei business daily said the company plans to open five large department stores in China by 2014, doubling its store network there to 10.
Nikkei futures traded in Chicago rose 0.6 percent from the Osaka close of 10,520 on Thursday, pointing to a higher start.
"The general trend in which the economy is on a recovery track hasn't changed," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"The market simply reaffirmed the fact that consumer spending or employment haven't really caught up with the recovery momentum yet."
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.7 percent on Thursday after Wal-Mart posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings as a clampdown on inventory offset falling sales, and it forecast a full-year profit that could beat Wall Street estimates.
The market shrugged off the U.S. Commerce Department report that retail sales fell 0.1 percent in July, defying market expectations of a gain.
Other data showed the number of workers filing initial applications for unemployment benefits rose by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 558,000. Economists had anticipated a drop.
Market participants expect the benchmark Nikkei to trade between 10,450 and 10,600 on Friday. It rose 0.8 percent the previous day, edging back towards a 10-month high of 10,587.36 hit on Tuesday. STOCKS TO WATCH
-- Nintendo, Sony
U.S. video game equipment and software sales fell 29 percent in July to $848.9 million, research group NPD said on Thursday, as the gaming industry limps through the economic downturn.
Nintendo's Wii was again the top-selling home console in July, though sales fell from last year. Microsoft's Xbox 360 was No. 2.
Sony's PlayStation 3 was in third place, followed by the PlayStation 2.
-- Shipping firms like Nippon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines
Shipping firms such as Nippon Yusen and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will likely be in focus after the Baltic Dry Index, the global freight index of prices for shipping commodities, climbed 2.8 percent on Thursday. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Chris Gallagher)