Tokyo stocks slip in thin trade, Matsushita up
TOKYO, May 1 (Reuters) The Nikkei share average slipped 0.9 per cent in thin trade today, as investors took profits in some recent gainers such as Fanuc Ltd. and TDK Corp. ahead of a series of market holidays later this week.
But shares of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. climbed 3.4 per cent to 2,405 yen.
The maker of Panasonic goods reported an 11 per cent rise in annual profit on Friday for the year just ended on brisk sales of plasma TVs.
Japanese markets were closed yesterday for a national holiday and will also be closed on Thursday and Friday. With fewer participants trading, share prices were easily influenced by futures trade, said Katsuhiko Kodama, a senior strategist at Toyo Securities.
''It's kind of tough to find reasons to buy stocks at the moment,'' Kodama said.
''Today and tomorrow the market is likely to be weak and impacted by futures trade.'' The Nikkei was down 148.52 points at 17,251.89 as of 0102 GMT. The broad TOPIX index was down 0.41 per cent at 1,694.10.
Nikkei June futures were at 17,270 in Osaka and 17,275 in Singapore Fanuc, a maker of industrial robots, fell 2.6 per cent to 11,480 yen after gaining more than 6 per cent in the past month.
Shares of TDK, a maker of electronic components, fell 1.7 per cent to 10,190 after gaining more than 2 per cent in the past month.
REUTERS
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