Tokyo  - Japan's foreign reserves topped 1 trillion dollars in November for the first time in four months, buoyed by sharp gains in US Treasury bond prices, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

Japan held 1.002 trillion dollars in foreign reserves by the end of November, up 25.14 billion dollars from the previous month.

The country holds the most foreign reserves worldwide after China.

Tokyo  - Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co considers disbanding its costly Formula One team as it battles sinking profits, news reports said Friday.

Honda representatives had informed its team, which is based in Britain, that it was to pull out of the expensive sport if no new sponsor was found, Japan's Jiji Press news agency said, also citing British news reports.

If there was no buyer by March, the team was to be sold, leaving current drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in limbo, the BBC reported.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks recovered slightly Friday as investors tried to snap up bargains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 53.53 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 7,977.77.

Tokyo - Markets in Japan opened stronger Thursday, following positive signals from Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 49.34 points, or 0.62 per cent to 8053.44 at mid-trading, also carried up by speculation over a possible merger of Nippon Oil Corp and Nippon Mining Holdings. The broader Topix index rose by 0.1 per cent to 799.96.

On currency markets at midday (0300 GMT) the dollar was quoted at 93.11-16 yen, down from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 93.30-32 yen.

Tokyo - Nippon Oil Corp, Japan's largest refine