Nikkei ends flat before U.S. job data, Pentax jumps

TOKYO, Apr 6 (Reuters) The Nikkei average ended nearly unchanged on Friday as investors held back ahead of U.S. payroll data, keeping the thin holiday market in check, while retailer Seven&I Holdings Co. Ltd. fell on a media report it will miss its profit target.

Right before the market close, shares of Pentax Corp. shot up nearly 7 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported that Hoya Corp. would make a tender offer for Pentax instead of a share swap. The stock last traded up 6.9 percent at 733 yen.

''People in the rest of the world are on holiday and it's very unlikely that the Tokyo market can advance by itself,'' said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

The Nikkei dipped 6.64 points, or 0.04 percent, to 17,484.78.

For the week, the Nikkei rose 1.14 percent.

The broad TOPIX index was down 0.21 percent at 1,717.08.

The Nikkei business daily this week reported its own profit estimates for 1,592 Japanese non-financial firms, saying it expected an average 12 percent rise in recurring profit for the year to March 2008.

That seemed too optimistic to Junichi Misawa, senior fund manager at STB Asset Management, who said investors are looking for much more conservative estimates.

''I think investors are expecting little growth in the 2007/08 fiscal year. So if the number comes in near 5 percent, that would be a positive surprise.... We also have to think about the risk of lower profits,'' he said.

''It may be a subtle difference, but that gap between what the market anticipates and what the companies produce will decide whether the Nikkei will break below 17,000 or climb above 18,000,'' he added.

Trade on the Tokyo exchange's first section was the slowest in 10 sessions, with just 1.78 billion shares changing hands.

Declining shares beat advancers by a ratio of nearly two to one.

OKI SHINES Oki Electric Industry surged about 4.6 percent to 229 yen following a news report that highlighted Oki's development of technology bonding light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with other materials to enable thinner LED displays for cellphones and TVs.

Other gainers were those with high liquidity attracting investors looking for short-term gains. With the earnings season nearing, short-term players flocked to Ebara Corp., which surged 6.5 percent to 642 yen, and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., the most actively traded issue by volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section.

Seven&I Holdings declined 2.4 percent to 3,600 yen after the news report on missing its profit target.

Aeon Co. extended losses, falling 3.7 percent to 2,225 yen after Mitsubishi UFJ Securities cut its rating on the stock to ''4'' from ''2'' on Thursday.

REUTERS CS DS1311