* Yen weakness fails to give exporters much of a lift
* Near-term outlook bearish, investor jittery about lost output
* Toshiba down 1.3 pct as Macquarie cuts price target
* Tokyo Electric up 1.2 pct in volatile trade
By Chikafumi Hodo and Antoni Slodkowski
TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.6 percent after two days of decline but market players said the near-term outlook remained bearish due to concerns about lost production for manufacturers since last month's massive earthquake and worries about the nuclear crisis.
The slight rise for the benchmark index comes despite a recent slide in the Japanese currency to near an 11-month low of 122.55 yen to the euro and a half-year low of 85.54 yen against the dollar .
The Nikkei has regained more than half the losses it posted since the March 11 devastating earthquake and tsunami but market players said the rebound driven mainly by foreign investors may have run its course.
"The limited gains for the Nikkei despite rapid weakness in the yen, are a clear illustration of the cautious mood building in the market as there is little clarity about the situation of many manufacturers," said Ryosuke Okazaki, chief investment officer at ITC Investment Partners.
"Japanese shares will be under pressure on production worries, but it's early to be overly pessimistic. From here on, investors will be taking a close look at each manufacturer to see how they are coping with the situation."
The benchmark Nikkei average closed the morning session up 55.06 points at 9,639.43. It briefly rose 1.1 percent to an intraday high of 9,687.18.
The broader Topix index rose 0.7 percent, or 5.92 points, to 845.53.
Strength in overseas markets the previous day led investors covering short positions after the Nikkei posted losses for the previous two days.
"It was about time to see some corrective buying, with investors who have gone short this week covering their positions ahead of tomorrow's SQ," said Takashi Ohba, a senior strategist at Okasan Securities, referring to Friday's settlement of options, known in Japan as the special quotation.
"But today's buying is largely technical with investors trying to square off their positions. Many players want to keep their positions as neutral as possible because there are many uncertainties, and the market is more likely to test the downside."
Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks last week, and local market participants were keen to see if they would continue to buy them in the longer run.
"I think foreigners will continue to be eager to buy Japanese shares on dips, but I doubt that they'll be aggressive about buying them on rallies at a time when there are many uncertainties in the market," Okasan's Ohba said.
Overseas investors shifted back to net buying of Japanese equities to the tune of 144.7 billion yen ($1.69 billion) in the week to April 2, after having sold a net 13.2 billion yen the prior week, according to data by the Ministry of Finance.
Between March 13 and 19, the week right after the quake and tsunami, foreigners logged record net buying of Japanese equities of more than 890 billion yen.
TOSHIBA DOWN
Shares in electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp , slipped 1.3 percent to 385 yen by the morning close after Macquarie Securities cut the firm's target share price to 500 yen from 575 yen after the shares took a hit as the nuclear crisis in Fukushima unfolded, but kept its "outperform" rating.
"We believe that Toshiba's shares have been hit more by an adverse turn in sentiment surrounding the nuclear-related business due to the Fukushima incident, than by any fundamental deterioration in its business," the brokerage's Damian Thong said in a note to clients.
Toshiba is among the 10 biggest post-quake losers out of the 225 Nikkei components, shedding some 23 percent since March 10 -- the day before the quake -- and underperforming the benchmark index, which after three weeks since the disaster still hovers 7.7 percent below its early March levels.
Shares in Tokyo Electric ended the morning up 1.2 percent at 341 yen after rising as much as 5.3 percent to 355 yen at one point in a volatile trade.
TEPCO shares fell to a record low of 292 yen on Wednesday due to concerns that it was likely to face huge damages payments over the crisis at its stricken Fukushima power plant.
Engineers pumped nitrogen gas into a crippled nuclear reactor at the plant on Thursday, trying to prevent an explosive buildup of hydrogen gas. [ID:nL3E7F62A5]
Elsewhere, Elpida Memory gained 5.6 percent to 1,122 yen after the company said it had developed a 4-gigabit DRAM chip for smart phones, joining bigger rival Samsung Electronics as the only producers of the large capacity power-saving memory chip for smart phones. [ID:nL3E7F63HD]