(Adds details, stocks)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks fell on Friday as
high-tech shares such as Kyocera <6971.T> slipped, with renewed
worries about the U.S. economy and possible fallout from the
credit crisis also weighing on the market.
The slide, which came a day after the Nikkei average scored
its greatest one-day percentage gain in six years, was also fed
by financial firms such as Mizuho Financial Group <8411.T>,
Japan's No.2 bank, and insurers.
The market had taken its cue from Wall Street, which slid
after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke painted a sombre
picture of a U.S. economy facing risks of both slow growth and
inflation in testimony to Congress. []
The fall picked up steam after Moody's downgraded bond
insurer FGIC, raising the possibility of more asset writedowns by
banks and funds holding securities and adding to credit worries
already stoked after Swiss bank UBS <UBSN.VX> revealed tens of
billions of dollars in risky debt exposure [].
"Although both the U.S. and Japan had surprisingly strong
indicators out this week, if you look at the actual contents they
weren't really that good," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical
analyst at Shinko Securities.
"Add in Bernanke, the ratings cut and UBS, and it's clear
that the subprime worries are still there."
But other participants said the market was shrugging off
these factors in favour of movements pegged to individual
sectors.
"Bernanke's comments were in some ways what the market had
expected, and FGIC had already been downgraded by ratings
agencies such as Fitch so that, too, was somewhat factored in,"
said Yumi Nishimura, manager at the investment advisory section
of Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"If it had been Ambac or MBIA that got downgraded, the
negative response probably would have been a lot worse."
The benchmark Nikkei <> was down 1.5 percent at
13,423.93 by midsession after earlier falling nearly 2 percent.
The broader TOPIX index <> was down 0.9 percent at 1,321.10.
HURTING HIGH-TECH
Chip makers and other high-tech shares slid on news that
Goldman Sachs had removed Intel Corp <INTC.O> from a top picks
list and that graphics chip maker NVIDIA Corp <NVDA.O> reported
weaker margins.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index <.SOXX> fell 2.8 percent
and this negative sentiment also carried over into Tokyo trade.
Advantest Corp <6857.T>, the world's largest maker of
microchip testers, fell 3.4 percent to 2,275 yen and No.2
chip-gear maker Tokyo Electron Ltd <8035.T> slid 2.9 percent to
6,700 yen.
The biggest drag on the Nikkei by volume weight, though, was
Kyocera, which was down 2.9 percent at 8,460 yen.
Computer security software maker Trend Micro <4704.T> tumbled
11.4 percent to 3,360 yen, the top drag on the Nikkei after the
firm said it expected a decline in profit for the first quarter
of this year.
Financials suffered, but to a lesser extent.
Millea Holdings <8766.T>, Japan's largest non-life insurer,
slipped 2.2 percent to 3,960 yen while Sompo Japan Insurance
<8755.T> fell 2.5 percent to 869 yen. No.1 bank Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group <8306.T> fell 1.8 percent to 943 yen.
Trade was light, with 968 million shares changing hands on
the Tokyo bourse first section, compared with last week's morning
average of 1.05 billion, as investors began sidelining themselves
ahead of the weekend.
Declining shares outnumbered advancers ones by more than two
to one.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies, Editing by Michael Watson)
