June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 82.54, or 0.9 percent, to 9,786.26 as of the close in Tokyo. The following were among the most active shares in the Japanese market today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.

Banks: Japanese banks gained after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended the sector, saying they were undervalued. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306 JT), which was raised to “buy” from “sell” at the brokerage, gained 4.1 percent to 616 yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411 JT), which was lifted to “neutral” from “sell,” rose 3.7 percent to 250 yen. Shinsei Bank Ltd. (8303 JT) rallied 5.5 percent to 154 yen. Resona Holdings Inc. (8308 JT) rose 3.1 percent to 1,390 yen. 77 Bank Ltd. (8341 JT) jumped 5.9 percent to 560 yen.

Generic drugmakers: The Nikkei newspaper said Japan’s health ministry will encourage pharmacies to promote the use of generic drugs. Towa Pharmaceutical Co. (4553 JT) increased 4.2 percent to 5,020 yen. Nippon Chemiphar Co. (4539 JT) soared 13 percent to 322 yen. Fuji Pharma Co. (4554 JQ) climbed 9.5 percent to 1,640 yen. Nichi-iko Pharmaceutical Co. (4541 JO) rose 2.6 percent to 3,140 yen. Sawai Pharmaceutical Co. (4555 JT) added 1.5 percent to 5,350 yen.

Chiyoda Corp. (6366 JT) gained 3.3 percent to 790 yen. The plant-engineering company and Samsung Engineering Co. (028050 KS) won a contract worth about 100 billion yen to build a facility for an oil refinery project in Saudi Arabia, Nikkei English News said, without citing anyone.

Elpida Memory Inc. (6665 JT) increased 3.3 percent to 1,069 yen. Japan’s biggest maker of memory chips may apply for government funds today, Kyodo News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Elpida will receive as much as 40 billion yen from state-owned Development Bank of Japan, Kyodo said. The chipmaker is also in final negotiations with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. and three other lenders to borrow as much as 90 billion yen, Kyodo reported.

Japan Airlines Corp. (9205 JT) advanced 3.9 percent to 188 yen. The Japanese government may guarantee as much as 80 percent of a roughly 100 billion yen syndicated loan being considered by the Development Bank of Japan and three private banks for extension to the airline, Nikkei English News reported. Separately, the company said it will post an 88 billion yen gain from pension changes for the year through March 31. The company will also reduce its domestic and international fleet and buy smaller aircraft to cut costs.

Kansai Paint Co. (4613 JT) gained 4.4 percent to 644 yen, the highest since Oct. 1. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. analyst Shinobu Takeuchi raised his rating on the maker of paints and related products to “outperform” from “neutral.”

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (9107 JT) rose 3.4 percent to 427 yen. Morgan Stanley analyst Takuya Osaka raised the shipping line to “equal-weight” from “underweight.”

Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. (4151 JT) fell 2.7 percent to 1,024 yen. Nikko Citigroup Ltd. analyst Hidemaru Yamaguchi reduced the pharmaceutical maker to “hold” from “buy.”

NEC Corp. (6701 JT) rallied 4.4 percent to 379 yen. Japan’s largest personal-computer maker said 520 employees accepted buyout offers at its liquid-crystal display unit NEC LCD Technologies Ltd. The company has already booked a one-time loss related to the buyouts, it said in a faxed statement.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. (8316 JT) advanced 4.1 percent to 4,080 yen. The bank was raised to “strong buy” from “buy” by analyst Ken Takamiya at Mizuho Securities Co.

TDK Corp. (6762 JT) rose 2.8 percent to 4,410 yen. The world’s largest maker of magnetic heads used in disk drives was raised to “buy” from “neutral” by Masashi Kubota, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co.

Tsugami Corp. (6101 JT) surged 10 percent to 232 yen, the highest since Oct. 2. The machine-tool maker said it will repurchase as much as 1.49 percent of its outstanding shares for up to 250 million yen through Sept. 11.

To contact the reporters on this story: Akiko Ikeda in Tokyo at iakiko@bloomberg.net; Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 19, 2009 02:39 EDT