Shares of NSK Ltd. (Japan) were up over 4%, to ¥447 on widespread rumors the company would report sharply improved sales for July. If so, it would mark the end of a long string of quarterly sales declines.

NSK is Japan's largest bearing manufacturer; its stock performance is usually taken as a bellwether for the entire Japanese bearing industry.

A Shinko analyst, however, cautioned that NSK still faces challenges: " ... the prospects for the second half are still shaky due to the state of the telecom sector."

Institutional money managers were the primary buyers driving up NSK's share price, but individual investors followed their lead later in the day.