VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Sony Corp (6758.T) posted a smaller than expected second-quarter operating loss on Friday, hailed by its finance chief as proof that the Japanese group's restructuring program is paying off.

Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd will develop a device to measure a user's fatigue and map their sleep, Chief Executive Satoru Iwata said on Thursday, the first offering from the company's newly created healthcare division.

Nestle SA will enlist a thousand humanoid robots to help sell its coffee makers at electronics stores across Japan, becoming the first corporate customer for the chatty, bug-eyed androids unveiled in June by tech conglomerate SoftBank Corp.

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc said it will offer a cut-rate smartphone service for about a third of the monthly fees charged by the country's three dominant operators, adding to increasing price competition in the sector.

Asian shares advanced to one-month highs on Wednesday, helped by Wall Street which gained on optimism over corporate earnings and prospects the U.S. Federal Reserve will reaffirm its willingness to wait longer before raising interest rates.

Japanese telecom and media group SoftBank Corp has agreed to buy a $627 million stake in Indian online retailer Snapdeal, seeking to tap into potentially huge e-commerce growth in the market with the world's third-biggest Internet user base.

Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp said on Monday it would buy 49 percent of Texas-based Kalon Biotherapeutics LLC, which has expertise in manufacturing vaccines used against pandemic influenza, Ebola and other public-health threats.

Japan's cabinet approved changes on Friday to a 66-year-old law that bans late-night dancing in clubs, a decision that will help businesses cash in on an expected influx of tourists ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Euro zone businesses performed much better than forecasters expected this month and China's vast factory sector grew a shade faster but there were worrying signs that the upturn could be short-lived.

After the Fukushima disaster crippled Japan's nuclear energy sector three years ago, the government pledged the biggest shake up in the history of the fragmented electricity industry to boost competition and contain a surge in power prices.

SoftBank Corp announced Wednesday it will lead a $100 million investment round in Indonesian ecommerce giant PT Tokopedia, the Japanese mobile carrier's third investment overseas under Vice Chairman Nikesh Arora.

Toshiba Corp said it had signed an agreement with United Technologies Corp to strengthen strategic collaboration through their joint venture, Toshiba Carrier Corp, which develops air-conditioning equipment.

Asian stocks clawed back some of this week's losses on Friday after a solid set of U.S. data calmed turbulence in global financial markets, though underlying worries about slowing world economic growth kept investors on edge.

Staffing firm Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (6098.T) surged in its market debut in Tokyo on Thursday, with investors leaping at a rare opportunity to grab part of a big Japanese company with strong online growth prospects.

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Wednesday it would recall a total 1.67 million vehicles globally in a voluntary move to address three separate defects including a faulty brake master cylinder that could hinder the brake's performance.