Nikkei slips back from six-year high, KDDI up

Tokyo, Jan 26: The Nikkei average slipped 0.73 percent on Friday as investors sold shares such as Honda Motor Co. Ltd that posted aggressive gains during the Nikkei's climb to a six-year high the previous day.

But losses were limited by gains in KDDI Corp., Japan's second-largest mobile phone operator, which lifted its annual operating profit forecast on expectations of user loyalty and higher user spending.

''For prices to go any higher we need to see some upgrades to earnings forecasts,'' said Tatsuyuki Kawasaki, director of equities trading at Kaneyama Securities.

''We're waiting for earnings results. So for the moment, the index is likely to move in a zone marked by Nikkei futures trade in Chicago, Osaka and Singapore.'' The Nikkei was down 126.71 at 17,331.59 as of 0108 GMT. The broader TOPIX index was down 0.66 percent at 1,718.04.

March Nikkei futures were at 17,350 in Osaka and at 17,360 in Singapore below the close of 17,375 in Chicago Honda Motor fell 1.3 percent to 4,740 yen. The auto maker had gained 5.2 percent during the previous five sessions.

NEC Electronics Corp. declined 3.7 percent to 3,350 yen after posting wider losses in October-December from a year earlier due to slow demand, helping drag down its peer Elpida Memory Inc.

The fall in Elpida came even though it said quarterly profit shot up on a near sixfold rise in sales of computer memory.

Elpida was down 3.5 percent 5,590 yen.

But KDDI gained 2.2 percent to 868,000 yen after it lifted its annual operating profit forecast by 7.5 percent as it expects to keep mobile subscribers from switching to NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Softbank Corp., and on expectations of higher spending on music downloads and other services.

Reuters