UPDATE 1-Russian miner Norilsk sees profit in H2 2009-CEO

* Lifts 2009 nickel output f'cst to 301,000-302,000 tonnes

* Repays $500 million eurobond, takes no new loans

* Eyes new foreign assets, does not want "past mistakes"

(Adds details, quotes, background)

By Kiryl Sukhotsky and Polina Devitt

MOSCOW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel miner, lifted its forecast for 2009 output and said it expects to turn a profit in the second half.

"Stocks are still high, but the increase has stopped. This and other factors say that things are going to be better," said chief executive officer Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, adding that the company had repaid a 500 million euro eurobond.

"Judging by current price levels, we expect a profit," he told Reuters television on Wednesday.

In June, Strzhalkovsky said Norilsk had returned to profit in the first half of 2009 after its first ever loss last year.

He said world nickel inventories had stopped rising and expected Norilsk's Russian assets to produce 231,000-232,000 tonnes of nickel in 2009.

Foreign assets would produce about 70,000 tonnes, giving a total of 301,000-302,000 tonnes - slightly above Norilsk's previous forecast of 285,000-300,000 tonnes and compared with 299,721 tonnes in 2008.

"We will fulfil our production plan for 2009 and our Russian assets may even exceed it by 1 percent. We have set the same targets for 2010," he said.

He said Norilsk aimed to raise volumes of metal sales to China and to develop relations with Brazil and Canada, but did not elaborate.

Strzhalkovsky said Norilsk had repaid its debut $500 million Eurobond, launched in 2004, which matured this month.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, Norilsk said it had also paid a coupon yield for the settlement date amounting to $17.8 million.

Strzhalkovsky said Norilsk had not taken any new loans this year and did not exclude the possibility of acquiring more foreign assets, though he said he did not want to "repeat past mistakes".

In 2007, Norilsk acquired Canadian nickel producer LionOre and a controlling stake in power generator OGK-3, which have lost value since. (Reporting by Kiryl Sukhotski and Polina Devitt, writing by Aleksandras Budrys; Editing by David Cowell)