Tokyo shares end morning mixed as profit-taking offsets Wall St rise, weak yen

Tokyo shares end morning mixed as profit-taking offsets Wall St rise, weak yen

	Published : Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:22 By : Agencies Print this Story

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices ended the morning session mixed as investors cashed in their gains from yesterday's run up, offsetting the boost to sentiment coming from Wall Street's overnight rise and the weaker yen against the dollar, dealers said.

The blue-chip Nikkei 225 Stock Average ended the morning session up 41.48 points, or 0.24 pct, at 17,669.78, off a high of 17,782.04.

The TOPIX index of all issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section was down 1.19 points, or 0.07 pct, at 1,724.41, off a high of 1,724.14.

Decliners beat gainers 883 to 675 on the TSE first section, with 165 issues flat.

Volume rose to 893 mln shares from 866 mln yesterday morning.

'Recent macroeconomic data showing signs of slowing growth have dampened investor appetite for stocks,' said Masatoshi Sato, a strategist at Mizuho Investor Securities.

'Given such discouraging data, investors have shifted their focus... to the upcoming earnings announcements,' he added.

Staring next week, Japanese companies will be reporting their earnings results for the fiscal year to March, with the market keen to see what corporate earnings projections will be for the current fiscal year.

Marine transport stocks led gains this morning, with Mitsui OSK Lines climbing 46 yen or 3.28 pct to 1,450 following a report that the shipping company will likely post a record current profit of 179 bln yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, up 1 pct from a year earlier and about 4 bln yen more than it had forecast.

Among Mitsui OSK's industry peers, Nippon Yusen gained 10 yen or 1.02 pct to 987 while Kawasaki Kisen rallied 41 or 3.42 pct to 1,240.

Export-oriented shares were generally higher, buoyed by the yen's weakness against the dollar, with semiconductor-related stocks especially in favor, dealers said.

Tokyo Electron was up 430 yen or 5.02 pct at 9,000 and Advantest was up 180 or 3.25 pct at 5,720 while Elpida Memory gained 120 or 2.44 pct to 5,030.

In the auto sector, Toyota Motor was up 60 yen or 0.83 pct at 7,280, while Nissan Motor shed 19 or 1.55 pct to 1,208 after saying it will likely need a year longer than expected to achieve its annual global sales target of 4.2 mln vehicles following sluggish results in the just-ended fiscal year.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rose 14 yen or 1.83 pct to 779 after a newspaper reported that the engineering company will start exporting to the US integrated coal gasification power plants that emit 20 pct less carbon dioxide than ordinary plants of this kind.

(1 usd = 119.57 yen)

yumiko.nishtiani@xfn.com