*Nikkei tumbles 3.6 percent, hits lowest since May 2004
*Topix falls 4.1 percent, lowest level since Dec 2003
*Economy worries grow despite U.S. bailout plan
*High-techs, exporters drag market down
(Adds stocks, details)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average fell
3.6 percent to a four-year low on Monday as Kyocera Corp <6971.T>
and other high-tech stocks slid, with investors dumping shares on
growing fear the financial crisis is hitting the wider economy.
Yoshinoya Holdings Co <9861.T> plunged more than 11 percent
after the restaurant chain cut its net profit forecast for the
year to February 2009 by 98 percent in what market participants
said could be a harbinger of a wave of such downward revisions.
The stock market losses came even after the U.S. House of
Representatives passed a $700 billion financial rescue plan as
market attention shifted from worry about whether or not the
proposal would pass to concern about how it will be carried out.
"The bleeding has been stopped for now, but the question is,
will the rescue plan actually work?" said Hiroichi Nishi, general
manager at the equity division of Nikko Cordial Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei <> shed 393.81 points to 10,544.33,
its lowest since May 2004. The broader Topix <> fell 4.1
percent to 1,005.53, its lowest since December 2003.
Some market participants said there were fears that the
financial crisis is far from over, with investors growing nervous
as U.S. banks Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> and Citigroup Inc <C.N>
battle over troubled rival Wachovia Corp <WB.N> [].
Others said widespread slides in U.S. shares showed the
impact of the financial crisis was expanding into a broad swathe
of the economy.
"There's still a sense that the financial crisis really isn't
all over yet, and it's definitely spilling over into the rest of
the economy," said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy
division at Marusan Securities.
"We're looking a bad downward spiral."
Others said that worry about Japanese corporate earnings was
starting to take a larger toll as results season approaches and a
growing number of firms issue downward revisions.
Yoshinoya, which specialises in "gyudon" rice bowls with
beef, cut its net profit forecast for the year to February to 50
million yen after its earnings took a hit from the poor
performance of its sushi chain unit, Kyotaru Co <8187.Q>, which
has been forced to close all of its family restaurants.
BAD TIMING
Yoshinoya lost 11.4 percent to 88,900 yen.
A similar casualty was J.Front Retailing Co <3086.T>, which
fell 2.4 percent to 559 yen after a newspaper reported that the
department store operator's annual operating profit is expected
to fall 15 percent to about 34 billion yen, missing the company's
forecast for 40 billion yen.
Few sectors were unscathed.
"Though technical factors suggest a rebound is not
unrealistic at this point, it's hard to come up with a buying
scenario. Foreigners are staying away and individual investor
sentiment is hurting," Marusan's Ushio said.
Invidual investors backed this up.
"Even though the financial bailout plan was passed, markets
this morning are dropping like rocks. We still can't feel safe,"
said Yusuke Komatsu, a 29-year-old company employee, who spoke in
front of a securities firm.
Financial shares tumbled, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
<8306.T> sliding 9.7 percent to 802 yen. No. 2 bank Mizuho
Financial Group <8411.T> shed 8.3 percent to 400,000 yen and
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group <8316.T> lost 6.1 percent to
589,000 yen.
Kyocera lost 4.8 percent to 7,290 yen and Tokyo Electron Inc
<8035.T> was down 8.9 percent to 4,000 yen, becoming the top two
drags on the Nikkei 225 by volume weight.
Canon Inc <7751.T> lost 3.7 percent to 3,700 yen and Honda
Motor Corp <7267.T> slid 3.9 percent to 2,725 yen.
One of the few bright spots was cosmetics maker Shiseido Co
<4911.T>, which rose 4.6 percent to 2,510 yen after Mitsubishi
UFJ Securities raised its rating to "2" from "3," saying that new
high-end cosmetics products will likely help the firm's earnings
recover in the second half.
Trade picked up, with some 1.04 billion shares changed hands
on the Tokyo exchange's first section, compared to last week's
910 million morning daily average.
Declining shares beat advancing ones by roughly 15 to 1.
(Additional reporting by Chika Osaka)
