Nikkei now negative for the year, NTT falls

TOKYO, Mar 2 (Reuters) The Nikkei share average fell 1.45 percent on Friday, erasing all of its gains for the year as investors remained cautious after a global market sell-off and continued strength in the yen.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., or NTT, was among the decliners. The company's fixed-line units expect current profit to halve next business year.

''The money flow is slowing,'' said Hideyuki Suzuki, investment information manager at SBI Securities.

''The yen strengthened as far as the level of 116 to the dollar, and is now in the area of 117, and markets around the world are still falling,'' Suzuki said. ''At present, I think investors are looking to see when this will end.'' The Nikkei was down 253.51 points at 17,200.00 as of 0109 GMT, erasing all of its gains for the year.

The broad TOPIX was down 1.4 percent at 1,715.43.

Exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. were among the decliners, hit by concern the stronger yen could curb their earnings.

Toyota fell 1.9 percent to 7,710 yen.

The yen was at 117.68 to the dollar, after rising as to a two-month high of 116.94 on Thursday.

A stronger yen is a negative for Japan's exporters because it eats into profits when earnings from abroad are brought home.

NTT fell 3.1 percent to 604,000 yen.

The company's fixed-line units expect current profit to halve next business year due to rising costs from signing subscribers to fibre-optic Internet cables and shrinking revenues from voice calls.

Reuters DH VP0715