Share prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are predicted to gradually recover toward the end of 2002 after testing lows at the start of the year amid growing fears of credit risks.

Stocks will probably turn upward if the U.S. economy begins to pick up and the government makes headway in its structural reform efforts, brokers reckoned.

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average is expected to move between 9,500 and 14,000 in 2002, brokers said. The index ended trading for 2001 at 10,542.62 on Dec. 28, the lowest yearend closing price since 1983.