By Ayai Tomisawa
TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average roseon Tuesday as tech shares rallied and Takeda Pharmaceuticaljumped after a report the drugmaker will make a formal offer tobuy Shire for $62 billion.
The Nikkei gained 0.4 percent to 22,551.35 points bymid-morning.
Takeda Pharmaceutical gained 2 percent and was thethird most traded stock in turnover after trading in negativeterritory.
The Nikkei reported that the drugmaker will make a formaloffer to buy Irish drugmaker Shire for 46 billion pounds ($62.3billion) in cash and stock on Tuesday.
Takeda later said negotiations are continuing, and it willmake an announcement when it reaches an agreement.
With more companies reporting full-year earnings, individualstocks will likely provide catalysts market action this week andnext, traders said.
About 40 percent of the Topix companies that have reportedso far have topped profit estimates, according to MizuhoSecurities. The companies reported a 21.4 percent rise in pretaxprofits for the last fiscal year ended March 2018, compared tothe companies' earlier estimates of 16.5 percent.
For outlooks for this fiscal year, they have reported a 2.2percent rise in pretax profits, as most companies have weakerdollar-yen assumptions than last year.
"As companies are forecasting conservative profits thisyear, the stock market has a hard time digesting the forecasts,"said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, a strategist at Mizuho Securities. "Weneed to wait until the April-June quarter to get a more concretepicture on how companies will be performing throughout theyear."
Tech shares outperformed, with Kyocera rising 1.2percent and TDK gaining 0.9 percent.
Banks were also higher, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Groupadvancing 1.2 percent and Mizuho Financial Groupadding 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, Suruga Bank, whose shares have dropped41 percent this year in connection with loans it made tocustomers for housing investment, dived more than 8 percent.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that a group of lawyersrepresenting owners who can't repay their loans released a voicedata showing the bank's involvement in approving loans based onfalsifying documents.
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) in March ordered thebank to report on loans it made to retail customers who built socalled share houses, where tenants share bathrooms and otherfacilities.
The broader Topix gained 0.6 percent to 1,782.94.(Editing by Kim Coghill)
