June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose with key indexes gaining for a second month, after Takefuji Corp. said it will more than double its dividend, reinforcing expectations that companies will raise payouts this year.

``Increasing shareholder returns has become a big focus among Japanese companies and now we're seeing more companies actually starting to listen to shareholders,'' said Nobuyoshi Tsumori, a Tokyo-based strategist at Barclays Global Investors Ltd., which manages $907 billion worldwide. ``That's a supporting theme in the stock market.''

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 6.57, or 0.1 percent, to 11,584.01 at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo. The Topix index added 0.72, or 0.1 percent, to 1177.20.

Kubota Corp., Japan's biggest farming equipment maker, dropped 29 yen, or 4.6 percent, to 597 after saying 79 people died of diseases that may have been caused by asbestos used at two of its plants.

Nikkei 225 futures for September delivery gained 0.2 percent to 11,570 in Osaka and Singapore.

In June, the Nikkei rose 2.6 percent and the Topix climbed 2.9 percent. For the quarter, the Nikkei lost 0.7 percent while the Topix declined 0.4 percent.

To contact the reporter for this story: Tomoko Yamazaki in Tokyo at tyamazaki@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 30, 2005 02:13 EDT