* Tepco jumps, other utilties slide after liability report
* Automakers gain on hopes for sharp post-quake rebound in H2
* Oil shares extend losses on falling crude prices
* Nikkei might hit second bottom at 9,000 in late April -fund manager
By Ayai Tomisawa and Antoni Slodkowski
TOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - Tokyo shares nudged higher on Wednesday, with Tokyo Electric surging on a report that its liabilities stemming from the nuclear crisis may be capped but other utilities slid as they may have to help foot the bill.
Gains in Honda, Nissan and other automakers after Nomura Securities said it expected a sharp post-quake recovery in the second-half of the business year helped offset declines in oil-related stocks on a sharp drop in crude prices.
The Nikkei has regained around two-thirds of its sharp losses suffered after the March 11 earthquake, but trade has become more volatile and thinned out ahead of earnings reports that may pose more questions than give answers as many firms are poised not to give forecasts for the business year.
"The market is weak, and it may hit a second bottom at 9,000 or below around the beginning of the earnings season at the end of April as the real impact from the quake becomes clearer," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments.
He added that although carmakers' supply chains are damaged and their production has fallen to around 50 percent of capacity, the overall long-term picture is still positive, although earnings for April-June quarter will likely be extremely weak.
By midafternoon the Nikkei was up 0.5 percent or 45.01 points at 9,601.33. The broader Topix index was 0.4 percent higher at 841.65.
Mild moves on the Tokyo bourse were roughly in line with other Asian markets as traders cut their exposure to risky assets the day before on the pullback in commodities and were reluctant to dive back into markets until a clear incentive to take more risk surfaces.
Global fund managers cut their exposure to Japanese equities sharply in early April, following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, a Bank of America-Merrill Lynch poll showed on Tuesday. [ID:nLDE73B1HH]
But a few leading funds, including Threadneedle and IVA Funds, have increased their holdings.
BofA-Merrill's poll of 282 fund managers showed a net 18 percent now underweight, compared with a net 8 percent overweight a month ago.
COMPENSATION CATALYST
Shares of Tokyo Electric jumped 10 percent to 495 yen after the Yomiuri newspaper said Japan may cap the firm's liability to as little as $24 billion for damages stemming from its crippled nuclear plant. [ID:nL3E7FD01V]
A week ago the stock hit an all-time low of 292 yen. Some 99 million shares in the company changed hands by the midday break, more than 10 percent of the 948 million shares traded on the Tokyo stock exchange's first section.
But Kansai Electric and other utilities slid as the newspaper said they may be asked to shoulder some of the compensation costs under the draft scheme.
Kansai fell 4.5 percent to 1,771 yen and Chubu Electric Power dropped 3.4 percent to 1,854 yen.
Among automakers, Honda Motor gained 2.2 percent to 2,926 yen while Nissan rose 2 percent to 710 yen.
Renesas Electronics , a major supplier of chips to the auto industry, surged 8.6 percent to 705 yen after it said was working to bring forward the reopening of a major quake-hit semiconductor plant from the previously scheduled target of July.
Shares of oil and gas developers Inpex Corp and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (Japex) succumbed to profit-taking for a second straight day as oil prices extended their decline amid mounting concerns that rising fuel costs will erode demand and threaten the global economic recovery.
Inpex, Japan's biggest oil and gas developer, fell 2.2 percent to 606,000 yen. Japex lost 2.9 percent to 3,895 yen.
Volume was thin on the bourse's main board, with the day's total set to drop below last week's average daily volume of 2.6 billion shares.
Bank of Japan data showed that the central bank had bought 18.4 billion yen in exchange-traded funds on Tuesday, boosting the mood on the market. The BOJ has regularly supported the market on days of big falls. On Tuesday, the Nikkei dropped 1.7 percent. (Editing by Chris Gallagher)