Friday November 20, 01:43 AM
Nikkei slips as chip shares fall, but banks up
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei (news) stock average lost
0.5 percent on Friday as Advantest Corp and other
chip-related shares slid, following falls by U.S. peers after a
brokerage cut its growth outlook for the semiconductor industry.
Shares of Sony Corp fell to their lowest in nearly
four months after the electronics maker unveiled a new growth
strategy that failed to reassure investors.
But losses were offset by gains in banking shares, battered
recently by concerns about fundraising after top lender
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group announced a massive share
sale this week.
'It's possible that Japan may have anticipated Wall Street's
fall a bit with the Nikkei losses on Thursday, but there are
plenty of Japan-specific selling factors right now too, such as
concerns about a rush of fundraising,' said Kazuhiro Takahashi,
an analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
The benchmark Nikkei is on track for its fourth
consecutive negative week. It fell as much as 1.1 percent before
recovering some ground to be down 42.40 points at 9,507.07.
The broader Topix was flat at 838.05.
Wall Street shares took a hit on Thursday after disappointing
economic data raised doubts about the strength of the economic
recovery.
U.S. tech stocks were hammered after Bank of America (NYSE: IKJ - news) -Merrill
Lynch (LGL - news) cut its 2010 growth outlook for the semiconductor industry
on concerns about a rising inventory glut, and downgraded 10
stocks including Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC - news) .
But some in the market were doubtful about how much this
would affect Tokyo, noting that while the Nikkei had broken below
key support at 9,500 it remained above its 200-day moving
average, currently around 9,350.
TECH TROUBLES
'In many ways, the brokerage report is basically still just
conjecture,' said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi
UFJ Securities.
He noted that Japanese chip gear makers were also possibly
getting some support Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan
figures showing that orders for chip-making equipment in October
totalled 65 billion yen ($729 million), down 4.1 percent from the
previous month but up 66 percent from last year.
Advantest (Berlin: VAN.BE - news) , which makes chip testing equipment, fell 1.7
percent to 2,055 yen, while Tokyo Electron (Frankfurt: 865510 - news) lost 1.2
percent to 4,950 yen. Nikon Corp (Berlin: NKN.BE - news) , which makes steppers,
shed 3.1 percent to 1,587 yen.
Sony (Munich: 853687 - news) , which is heading for its second straight annual loss,
said on Thursday that it would launch 3D TVs and new networked
products and services as part of a strategy to put it back on a
growth track.
But Sony also pushed back an elusive target of an operating
profit margin of 5 percent to the financial year to March 2013.
That target had been set by CEO Howard Stringer in 2005 for the
year to March 2008.
Its shares fell as much as 3.8 percent before finding their
feet and cutting losses to around 2 percent.
Falls in techs and oil-related shares, hit after oil prices fell more than $2 on Thursday, were limited as bank shares
gained on short-covering.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 1.5 percent to 474 yen,
while Japan's No. 3 bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 3.5 percent and Mizuho Financial Group
climbed 2.6 percent to 159 yen.
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
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