TOKYO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.2 percent on Monday, with exporters such as Kyocera Corp down after disappointing U.S. corporate earnings robbed the market of upward momentum sparked by earlier upbeat results.
But the benchmark pared most of its losses in late trade as short-covering emerged, while struggling Japan Airlines Corp surged 11.9 percent after losing 26 percent of its value last week, staging what market players said was a rebound on a sense the stock had fallen too far. The benchmark Nikkei edged down 21.05 points to 10,236.51 after earlier falling as much as 1.3 percent. The broader Topix rose 0.5 percent to 905.80. (Reporting by Elaine Lies)