Nikkei ends flat in thin trade, realtors fall

Tokyo, Sept 25: The Nikkei average ended flat in thin trade on Monday as Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd. and other real estate firms were hit by profit-taking, while KDDI Corp. and some other recent losers gained on the assumption their prices had fallen too far.

Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. fell following a report that U.S. financial authorities may punish the bank's U.S. units for lax monitoring against money laundering.

Relatively slow trade helped dull investors' appetite for buying stocks, said Toru Otsuka, deputy general manager of Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.'s investment information department.

A total 1.55 billion shares changed hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, below the 90-day moving average of 1.68 billion shares.

''This is the biggest factor in the market right now,'' Otsuka said, referring to slower trade in recent sessions.

''The market lacks energy.'' The Nikkei finished the day 0.01 percent, or 0.86 point lower, at 15,633.81. The broader TOPIX index lost 0.24 percent to 1,559.78.

Advancing shares slightly outnumbered decliners 826 to 746.

REAL ESTATE DOWN

The real estate sector, which hit a five-month high earlier this month, was one of the biggest percentage losers among the TOPIX's 33 industry sub-indexes.

Mitsubishi Estate fell 2.4 percent to 2,400 yen, while industry leader Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. lost 1.7 percent to 2,545 yen.

But KDDI and some other recent losers gained as investors judged they had fallen too far during a recent slide.

KDDI, Japan's second-largest telecoms firm, rose 3 percent to 727,000 yen, erasing a loss of 2.1 percent on Friday.

Electronic components maker TDK Corp. rose 1.5 percent to 9,310 yen, erasing some of its 1.82 percent loss from Friday.

An assumption the Nikkei was undervalued could help support stock prices in the near future, said Shigemi Nonaka, special adviser at Polestar Investment Management.

''There's a bit of a feeling that the market has been oversold. Unless we get hit by some negative news, there is no reason for stock prices to fall further from here,'' Nonaka said.

As of Friday, the benchmark had posted three straight weekly losses.

Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ, the world's largest bank by assets, fell 2.1 percent to 1.43 million yen.

The Nihon Keizai business daily reported over the weekend that U.S. financial authorities may punish the U.S. units of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsubishi UFJ's core banking unit, for lax monitoring against money laundering.

The market largely took in its stride media reports that Japan's prime minister-in-waiting Shinzo Abe will choose Hidenao Nakagawa as secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Abe, chosen last week as the youngest LDP president since the end of World War Two, is expected to form his cabinet on Tuesday after parliament confirms him as the country's leader.

REUTERS