* Nikkei up for first time in 4 days
* Nikkei up 0.2 percent by midday
* Toyota gains in heavy trade on rating hike
* Too early to say if Nikkei rebound sustainable-analyst
* Nikkei closely tracks moves in dollar/yen rate
By Antoni Slodkowski
TOKYO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average rose on Friday for the first time in four days, as a sharp pullback in oil prices calmed concerns that their recent surge could derail the global recovery, nudging investors back towards riskier assets.
Market players said despite this week's weakness, bulls are waiting to buy on dips as the factors that have fuelled a 14 percent rally for lagging Tokyo stocks since November -- excess liquidity and stronger corporate earnings - remained intact.
"Foreign investors are buying back after the Nikkei lost some 400 points this week, but it's still early days and we need to wait to see what happens in Libya over the weekend to be able to say if the correction is already over or not," said Toshiyuki Kanayama, a market analyst at Monex Inc.
By the midday break the benchmark Nikkei climbed 0.2 percent, or 22.97 points, to 10,475.68. The broader Topix also rose 0.2 percent, to 935.84.
Blue-chip exporters drove the Nikkei's rebound as the yen stabilised below three-week highs hit on Thursday.
Morning trading volume on Friday was moderate with 1.0 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo stock exchange's first section, suggesting that the day's total will likely come in below last week's daily average of 2.26 billion.
Oil sank to around around $110 from 2-½ year highs near $120 a barrel, dragged down by an unsubstantiated rumour that Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi had been shot and Saudi Arabia's assurances it can counter Libyan supply disruptions.
The spread of unrest from Egypt to Libya and the jump in oil prices had helped pull the Nikkei sharply off nine-month highs hit on Monday. But continued worries about further contagion to bigger oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia were expected to keep the Nikkei under some pressure in near term.
"Markets will remain jittery about North Africa for some time yet, but it seems as if more and more players look at the unrest as an opportunity to buy shares cheaply," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets said however that immediate resistance lies at the Nikkei's 25-day moving average, now at 10,548, and if the benchmark can pierce that, the correction in the Nikkei may be over sooner than expected.
"But with many economic indicators out next week from the U.S. and ahead of the weekend, which will probably bring more clues about the Libyan situation, investors won't take too many risks," he said.
Toyota Motor Corp rose 1.6 percent to 3,735 yen in heavy volume after Credit Suisse upgraded it to "outperform" from "neutral" and raised its target price to 4,520 yen, citing the ability to continue cutting costs, according to a report obtained by Reuters.
The upgrade offset news that Toyota was recalling nearly 2.2 million more vehicles for a defect that could cause gas pedals to stick.
Elpida Memory Inc rose 3.2 percent to 1,179 yen after the world's No. 3 maker of DRAM memory said on Thursday it wanted to hike chip prices.
Chief executive Yukio Sakamoto said the price of some DRAM chips may rise by almost a fith because demand is likely to exceed supply by the second quarter as client inventories dropped and they started placing new orders.
During the morning session the Nikkei closely tracked moves in the dollar/yen rate, with the greenback hovering around the psychologically important 82 yen level, and any big fall below that line was seen as a potential selling signal, investors said. (Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)