Tokyo stocks seen opening lower on Wall St., yen

Tokyo, May 9: Tokyo stocks are seen opening lower on Wednesday, with exporters such as Canon Inc. likely to fall on a strengthening yen and after U.S. stocks closed flat ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate-setting meeting.

But investors may pick up energy stocks as U.S. oil futures gained, said Yutaka Miura, a deputy manager in the equity information department at Shinko Securities.

NYMEX June crude advanced 1.3 percent to settle at .26 a barrel on Tuesday.

''With U.S. stocks flat, investors lack news to trade on except for individual earnings results,'' he said. ''The yen's moves are likely to decide the direction of the market during the day.'' In New York, the dollar slipped 0.1 percent to 119.96 yen while the euro was off 0.5 percent at 162.50 yen.

A stronger yen weighs on exporters as it cuts the value of their overseas sales when translated back into the Japanese currency.

Nikkei futures pointed to a slight fall in Tokyo stocks.

Contracts expiring in June closed at 17,595 in Chicago on Tuesday, down 75 points from their close in Osaka The Nikkei is likely to move between 17,500 and 17,750 on Wednesday, market participants said.

The benchmark finished the previous session down 0.07 percent at 17,656.84.

U.S. stocks closed flat on Tuesday as investors locked in profits before the Fed meeting. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.03 percent to end at 13,309.07.

In trading after the bell, shares of network equipment maker Cisco Systems fell 2.7 percent to .60 after the company reported its quarterly results.

Japanese companies scheduled to report results on Wednesday include Toyota Motor Corp., Nippon Yusen KK, Japan Airlines Corp.

, Shinsei Bank Ltd., Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. and Aiful Corp.

STOCKS TO WATCH -- Softbank Corp.

Softbank said on Tuesday annual profit more than quadrupled thanks to its acquisition of Vodafone's Japan unit and its efforts to shave costs and launch new price plans to lure subscribers.

-- Olympus Corp. T> The precision equipment maker on Tuesday reported a 67 percent jump in group net profit to 47.8 billion yen for the year ended March 31 on strong demand for digital cameras and endoscopes. It forecast slower growth in net profit this business year to 50 billion yen.

-- Otsuka Kagu Ltd. Q> Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission on Tuesday recommended that the Financial Services Agency slap a 30 million yen fine on Otsuka Kagu, a furniture retailer, for alleged insider trading in its own stock.

-- Ezaki Glico Co. T> The confectioner said on Tuesday that it would raise its planned dividend payout for the year ended March 31 to 15 yen from 10 yen, though that falls short of the 30 yen requested by hedge fund and shareholder Steel Partners.

-- Sapporo Holdings Ltd. T> Japan's third-biggest brewer, which faces a possible takeover attempt by hedge fund Steel Partners, on Tuesday posted a group operating loss of 4.8 billion yen for the January-March first quarter, weighed down by sales promotion costs.

-- Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., Nihon Spindle Mfg Co. Ltd.

T> Sumitomo Heavy said on Tuesday the leading shipbuilder will boost its stake in Nihon Spindle to 40.6 percent from the current 24.4 percent in terms of voting rights, and Nihon Spindle will become its unit on Oct. 1.

-- Shimano Inc. OS> Bicycle parts maker Shimano on Tuesday raised its group net profit forecast for the first half to June 30 and full year to Dec. 31, citing stronger-than-expected sales of bicycle parts amid relatively mild winter weather around the world.

Shimano also attributed the revision to robust sales of fishing gear. It raised its first half net profit forecast by 28 percent to 9.5 billion yen, and its full year estimate by 6 percent to 18.7 billion yen.

-- Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. T> The shipping company will team up with Norway's Leif Hoegh Group to build three vessels able to reconvert liquefied natural gas into gaseous form before offloading it, eliminating the need for storage, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

Mitsui O.S.K. will spend about 100 billion yen to build the ships, the newspaper said.

Reuters>