TOKYO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average is expected to edge higher on Tuesday, after U.S. shares rose, helped by news that IBM offered to buy data analytics company Netezza Corp for $1.7 billion.
IBM was among the top boosts to the Dow and its deal is the latest in a flurry of acquisitions in the technology sector.
Two stocks to watch may be Sawai Pharmaceutical Co, one of Japan's top makers of generic drugs, and mid-sized drugmaker Kyorin.
The Nikkei business daily said on Saturday that Sawai has bought almost 5 percent of Kyorin and wants to make it a wholly owned unit through a tender offer.
The rise in U.S. shares and the yen's slip back from a 15-year high against the dollar in the wake of last week's currency intervention by Japanese authorities is likely to support the Nikkei, said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"It's hard to be bullish, but excessive worries that the market might fall have receded," Miura said.
The Nikkei is likely to trade between 9,600 and 9,800 on Tuesday, he added.
The Nikkei rose 1.2 percent to a six-week closing high of 9,626.09 on Friday, helped by the weaker yen in the wake of Japan's first currency intervention in six years.
Japan's stock market was closed on Monday for a national holiday.
Japan sold an estimated 1.8 trillion yen (over $21 billion) last Wednesday, a record for a single day, to help its exporters and to counter deflation, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan pointing to more potential yen selling.
The Nikkei finished Friday's trade just below resistance near 9,660, which is right around the top of the cloud on daily Ichimoku charts. A clear break of that level would be a bullish sign. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2319 GMT ------------
LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1142.71 1.52% 17.120 USD/JPY 85.71 0.02% 0.020 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.7045 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1278.55 -0.05% -0.700 US CRUDE 74.26 -0.80% -0.600 DOW JONES 10753.62 1.37% 145.77 ------------------------------------------------------------- > Market ends more than 1 pct higher, S&P clears levels > Dollar falls vs euro and yen ahead of Fed statement > Longer-dated notes gain as traders bet on Fed > Gold hits record highs again, fund buying key > Oil nears $75 as S&P 500 hits 4-month peak
STOCKS TO WATCH
-- Sanyo Electric
Japan's Sanyo Electric will close two of its domestic semiconductor plants by 2012 and move production to another plant along with about 1,000 workers, the Nikkei business daily said. (Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Michael Watson)