Nikkei slips below 16,000 on growth concerns

TOKYO, Nov 13 (Reuters) The Nikkei share average fell below 16,000 for the first time in more than six weeks on Monday as investors sold shares of Japan's leading firms such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and KDDI Corp. on concern that economic growth is slowing.

Shares of Fanuc Ltd. and other machinery stocks extended losses after Japan's September machinery orders data came in below expectations on Friday.

The machinery orders data, a key gauge of capital spending, increased concerns that Japan's third-quarter gross domestic product data could also disappoint the market.

GDP is due out on Tuesday.

''Right now it looks as if the companies that are making money are making it overseas,'' said Hideyuki Suzuki, investment information manager at SBI Securities. ''Companies that rely on the domestic economy are not looking as strong.'' But investors were also holding back from leading exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. T> ''You can't just buy blue-chip exporters every day.... For the market to really advance, a broader range of stocks need to be bought.'' The Nikkei was down 0.62 percent at 16,012.71 as of 0059 GMT, after earlier falling as low as 15,981.02, its lowest since late September The broader TOPIX was down 0.65 percent at 1,571.02. Sumitomo Mitsui, Japan's third-largest lender, fell 1.7 percent to 1.18 million yen.

KDDI, Japan's second-largest mobile phone operator, dropped 1.4 percent to 753,000 yen.

Fanuc, a maker of industrial robots, fell 1.2 percent to to 10,330 yen, adding to fall of 0.4 percent on Friday, when it slipped after the machinery data.

The data showed that core private-sector machinery orders fell 7.4 percent in September from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis, below economists' forecasts for a rise of 1.9 percent.

Toyota fell 0.7 percent to 7,090 yen.

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. was down 4.9 percent to 2,840 yen, after earlier sliding to its lowest in 18 months.

The video game and slot machine maker on Friday cut its group net profit forecast for the year to March by 20 per cent due to sluggish sales of pachinko machines.

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