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Strategies & Market Trends : John Pitera's Market Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yorikke who wrote (4580)	9/3/2001 3:39:50 PM
From: Yorikke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33421

Tokyo's Nikkei ends off almost 3 pct at 17-yr low By Nathan Layne TOKYO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks slid nearly three percent on Monday to a fresh 17-year low after electronics maker Hitachi Ltd stunned the market with a hefty loss warning late last week, igniting fears of a new wave of profit revisions. /b ``A sense of capitulation is eating its way through the market. First Hitachi, then Nikon -- there's really no sense of when the bleeding will cease,'' said Haruki Takahashi, head of equities dealing at Tsubasa Securities./-b The benchmark Nikkei average plunged 2.84 percent or 303.83 points to 10,409.68, its fifth straight session in negative turf and its lowest finish since August 1984. Marking a 17-year low for the fourth consecutive day, it was the Nikkei's biggest percentage drop since August 9 when it shed 3.36 percent. Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics manufacturer and Monday's most actively traded issue by volume, ended down by its daily limit of 100 yen or 10.27 percent at 874. Traders reported a rash of selling after the Nikkei dipped below the psychologically key 10,500 barrier. /bThe Nikkei has lost more than 70 percent since the peak of Japan's asset-inflated bubble era in December 1989./-b Losses were broad-based, with decliners overwhelming gainers 1,228 to 176 on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. /bThe capital-weighted TOPIX index (^TOPX - news) dived 2.89 percent or 31.94 points to 1,071.73, its worst finish since January 1999. The preferred yardstick of institutional investors is inching closer to its post-bubble low of 980.11 hit in October 1998 when the country was in the throes of a financial crisis./-b DWINDLING PROFITS Hitachi said on Friday that it would fall deep in the red to the tune of a 140 billion yen ($1.17 billion) consolidated net loss for the business year to March. Its plans to slash 14,700 jobs, or four percent of its global workforce, failed to impress. ``You would think that some drastic restructuring steps would come with such a surprisingly large revision, but I find what was issued lacking,'' Takashi Mimura, analyst at Societe Generale Securities Ltd, said in a note to clients. Nikon Corp, one of the world's largest makers of equipment used to etch circuitry onto chips, tumbled 13.8 percent to 912 yen ahead of an expected downward revision which came after Monday's close. /bThe latest high-profile victim of the information-technology slump, Nikon said group net profit for the year to March 2002 would be zero, down from a previous forecast of a profit of 10 billion yen./-b ``Concerns remain about the fragile economy and corporate earnings. Especially, profit warnings are likely to spread to non high-tech firms, such as materials,'' said Yutaka Miura, deputy manager of Shinko Securities' equity information section. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Ltd , a maker of xylene and methanol, fell by its daily limit of 80 yen, or 22.79 percent, to 271 yen after cutting its group net profit forecast late on Friday for the year to next March by 96 percent to 500 million yen. POLICY, U.S. BOTTOM NOT FOUND Slow-moving reforms by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government and concerns over when the U.S. economy will recover haven't helped. ``Details on reforms and a supplementary budget keep getting pushed back at a time when the market needs such direction most,'' said Akihiko Sakakibara, senior fund manager at Sumitomo Marine Asset Management. April-June gross domestic product data set to be released on Friday are widely expected to show the first contraction in three quarters and pave the way for an extra budget for this fiscal year. But even if the budget is crafted, its impact on the broad market looks small given Koizumi's pledge to limit new government bond issuance to 30 trillion yen a year. ``Moreover, active buyers are likely to keep to the sidelines until a clearer recovery scenario for the U.S. economy is in place,'' said Sakakibara. NTT GROUP HIT NTT DoCoMo Inc , Tokyo's largest issue by market capitalisation, lost 5.48 percent to 1.38 million yen after Morgan Stanley cut its investment rating on the dominant mobile phone carrier and its parent to 'neutral' from 'outperform'. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) , the country's number one carrier, gave up 2.59 percent to 526,000 yen. Trading was slim with 629.40 million shares changing hands on Tokyo's main board, down from Friday's 709.95 million, and the lowest total in two weeks. biz.yahoo.com