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"Japan's Nikkei average is expectedto open higher on Monday, extending gains from a seven-monthclosing high hit in the previous session, as exporters arebuoyed by a weaker yen and improved Chinese manufacturing data.    China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' indexrose to a seven-month high of 50.6 in November from 50.2 inOctober, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday.    The Nikkei was likely to trade between 9,450 and9,550, strategists said, while Nikkei futures in Chicago closed at 9,495 on Friday, up 0.5 percent from theOsaka close of 9,450.    The yen has fallen on speculation that the Bank of Japanwill be pushed to adopt aggressive policy action under a likelynew government after a Dec. 16 election. The currency was tradedat 82.42 yen to the dollar on Monday after falling as low as82.75 yen on Friday, near its 7-1/2-month low of 82.84 touchedon Nov. 22.     &amp;quot;Japanese valuations are still favourable, but this week'smain focus will be the American economy and developments in theongoing (fiscal) talks there,&amp;quot; said Hiroichi Nishi, equitygeneral manager at SMBC Nikko Securities.    Japanese equities carry a 12-month forward price-to-bookratio of 0.9, much cheaper than the U.S. S&amp;P 500's 1.9and the pan-European STOXX Europe 600's 1.4, data fromThomson Reuters Datastream showed.    On Friday, the Nikkei rose 0.5 percent to 9,446.01 to aseven-month closing high, and rose 5.8 percent in November tolog its best monthly performance since February. The broaderTopix added 0.3 percent to 781.46.    The benchmark Nikkei is up 11.7 percent this year, slightlybehind a 12.6 percent rise in the S&amp;P 500 and a 12.8 percentgain in the STOXX Europe 600.        &amp;gt; Wall St ends flat as 'fiscal cliff' focus lingers         &amp;gt; Euro subdued, China data cheers Aussie dollar           &amp;gt; Treasuries flat as profit-taking offsets month-end buying &amp;gt; Gold down for day and month on U.S. fiscal worries      &amp;gt; Oil posts first monthly rise since August                        STOCKS TO WATCH    --SHARP CORP     Sharp has agreed to sell three of its television assemblyfactories outside Japan to Hon Hai Precision Industry,a deal which would total about 55 billion yen ($667 million),the Sankei newspaper reported on Saturday.     Separately, semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd said on Friday it has dissolved a joint venture withSharp to develop equipment to make thin-film silicon solar powercells, amid weak demand for the technology. The venture was setup in February 2008.     --TOYOTA MOTOR CORP     Toyota is still struggling to revive sales in China, part ofa broader slump to hit Japanese car firms after a diplomatic rowbetween the countries.     --FAST RETAILING     The operator of casual fashion chain Uniqlo said on Fridayit will buy an 80.1 percent stake in U.S. denim maker J BrandHoldings from Star Avenue Capital and J Brand managers for $290million to gain more brand clout in the United States.     --U-SHIN LTD     French car parts equipment maker Valeo said onFriday it had agreed to sell its unit which makes locks, handlesand similar products to U-Shin for an enterprise value of 223million euros ($289 million)."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://in.reuters.com/article/markets-japan-stocks-idINL4N09C0I220121202>