Nikkei down 0.6 pct; property off, chipmakers up

Tokyo, June 22: The Nikkei average fell 0.56 percent on Friday as investors took profits in property stocks such as Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd. and other stocks dependent on domestic demand after the benchmark finished the previous session at its highest in seven years.

But Shares of chip testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. and other chip shares rose after the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index jumped 3 percent to its highest since May 2006 on brokerage upgrades of U.S. chip stocks.

''The market started with profit-taking after grabbing its highest close for the year,'' said Zenshiro Mizuno, senior managing director at Marusan Securities.

''Domestic demand-dependent shares are at a disadvantage as the recent trend favours exporters, helped by a softer yen.'' The Nikkei share average was down 101.94 points at 18,138.36 as of 0055 GMT. The broader TOPIX index lost 0.79 percent to 1,775.31.

The dollar edged up from late U.S. trade at 123.75 yen after rising as high as 123.77 yen on electronic trading platform EBS earlier in the session, hitting its highest level since December 2002.

A weaker yen is a boon to companies that make the bulk of their sales abroad because it boosts profits when earnings from abroad are brought home.

Real estate issues fell with Mitsubishi Estate down 3.1 percent at 3,440 yen and Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. losing 2.2 percent to 3,560 yen.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and other drug stocks also lost ground. Takeda was down 1.3 percent at 7,800 yen.

Advantest jumped 4.3 percent to 5,530 yen, chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd. climbed 2.3 percent to 9,240 yen and DRAM chip maker Elpida Memory Inc. added 1.6 percent to 5,810 yen after hitting a five-month high of 5,850 yen.

Elsewhere, eAccess Ltd. jumped 9.5 percent to 80,700 yen after it and Softbank Corp. said on Thursday they were in talks on forming a WiMAX joint venture, looking to pool more funds to launch ultra high-speed Internet access for mobile devices.

Shares of Softbank were down 1.1 percent at 2,790 yen.

Shares of department store Mitsukoshi Ltd. fell 2 percent to 598 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported the company would likely post a 49 percent drop in operating profit for the first quarter as store renovations and tough competition hit sales.

REUTERS >