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To: Teri Garner who wrote (12864)	8/29/2001 4:20:27 AM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

Nikkei Likely To Test 10000 "It's looking increasingly unlikely U.S. demand will help limit deterioration in the Japanese economy... Stock players here will be closing watching prospects for consumption in the U.S. during the Christmas sales period before any full-fledged buying," said Kunihiro Hatae, general manager of equities at Tokai Tokyo Securities. "It's also very disappointing that the government expects Japan to take nearly two decades to put an end to its bad debt problems," he said, noting that it has already been a decade since the burst of Japan's asset bubble started creating loan problems. Market players are generally disappointed by the government's estimate of the timeline for banks' bad debt cleanup, and some support an idea to inject more tax money into banks to help them dispose of bad debts promptly, traders said. However, a bank-sector analyst at a major Japanese brokerage house said such a step won't help improve the economy, adding it's the best to revive the economy through measures to tackle unemployment, which would also help reduce bad debt. He said the government's estimate is "realistic." With limited chances of market-friendly news from the U.S. or Japanese policymakers as they seek to push through structural reforms at the cost of near-term economic deterioration, and with seasonal share sales expected to intensify ahead of the Sept. 30 fiscal half end, the Nikkei is now likely to test 10000, a level untouched since August, 1984. "Some people question whether (banks and companies) will cancel mutually-held shares at current levels (where they have either unrealized losses or very small profits). But the Topix remains well above 1998 levels, indicating they have a lot of room to sell," Tokai Tokyo's Hatae said. The Topix, a broader measure of the market than the tech-heavy Nikkei, Wednesday marked its lowest close since March 1999. "If there's any doubt about the prospect of the Nikkei falling below 10000, we should be seeing active bargain-hunting... The market has given up hope of any supportive action by the government," a futures trader at another Japanese brokerage firm said. A broad variety of stocks fell Wednesday, with many domestic demand-oriented stocks - which were recently supported by cyclical buying and hopes for the impact of a government-run urban development project - falling especially sharply. Decliners outnumbered advancers 1,019 to 313, with 121 issues finishing unchanged on the TSE First Section. The market capitalization of companies listed on the TSE First Section stood at Y315.85 trillion at the close, falling below Y320 trillion for the first time since March 1999. (MORE) DOW JONES NEWS 08-29-01 03:48 AM * end of story *