Nikkei little changed as Advantest up, Sony down

Tokyo, Jun 7: The Nikkei was little changed on Wednesday, as a weaker yen prompted investors to return to shares of recently battered chip makers such as Advantest Corp. while other exporters, such as Sony Corp., continued to lose ground on concerns of higher U.S. rates.

Nikkei futures contracts pointed to a rise in the index. In Osaka trade, Nikkei futures rose 0.07 percent to 15,370 yen.

''Right now, some of the tech stocks that are among the biggest contributors to the Nikkei are advancing and that has helped the index,'' said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.

The weaker yen was likely to be one of the factors helping such stocks, he added.

The Nikkei was 0.17 percent lower at 15,358.56 as of 0104 GMT, having spent most of the morning swinging between gains and losses.

The broader TOPIX index was down 0.47 percent at 1,559.95.

Advantest rose 1.1 percent to 11,170 yen. The yen was at 113.05 to the dollar, not far off its month low of 113.55 hit in the previous session.

A weaker yen is a boon for Japan's exporters, as it increases profits when earnings from abroad are brought home.

But not all exporters gained on the weaker yen.

Shares of Sony and Toyota Motor Co. Ltd. continued to decline on concerns of higher interest rates in the key U.S. market.

Sony was down 1.7 percent at 5,030 yen, while Toyota lost 0.5 percent to 5,970 yen.

REUTERS