(Adds details, stocks)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei benchmark slipped
0.93 percent on Tuesday, a day after hitting a five-week closing
high, with Tokyo Electron Ltd <8035.T> and other chip-related
shares dragging on the market as worries about their earnings
weighed.
Investors sidelined themselves ahead of Japanese machinery
orders data due out on Thursday, with financials such as Mizuho
Financial Group <8411.T> slipping on lingering credit fears.
"By the end of this week especially there's likely to be a
convergence of worries about both micro and macro factors, since
it seems the machinery orders are going to be bad," said Tomomi
Yamashita, a fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.
"The economy is factored in to an extent, but worries about
earnings remain."
Japanese retailer earnings, often seen as a bellweather,
kicked off on Monday with Aeon Co Ltd <8267.T> posting its first
profit fall in a decade on sluggish sales in Japan and at its
struggling U.S. apparel unit, Talbots Inc <TLB.N>. []
The company did forecast a recovery this year, though.
In lacklustre trade, investors were moving to lock in
profits, with the yen's slight advance against the dollar
weakening exporters like Canon Inc <7751.T>, one of the top drags
on the Nikkei 225. <JPY=>
"Optimism may have spread on Wall Street, but there's no
question that investors here still are a bit wary about what the
future holds," said Noritsugu Hirakawa, a strategist at Okasan
Securities.
"After yesterday's rises and recent overall gains, investors
are moving to lock in profits."
Investor hopes that the credit crisis may be easing were
boosted on Wall Street by news that Washington Mutual Inc <WM.N>
was close to securing a $5 billion investment. []
The Nikkei <> shed 125.22 points to 13,325.01 by midday,
while the broader TOPIX <> was down 0.9 percent at 1,294.25.
CASHING IN CHIPS
Chip-related firms were battered by worry about their
earnings, with Tokyo Electron down 3.8 percent at 6,110 yen,
becoming the biggest drag on the Nikkei 225 by volume weight.
It was followed by Advantest Corp <6857.T>, which makes
chip-testing equipment and slipped 3.8 percent to 2,785 yen.
Elpida Memory Inc <6665.T> tumbled 7.3 percent to 3,580 yen,
a week after the computer memory chip maker said it aimed to
raise prices 20 percent in April to reverse a brutal
industry-wide slump.
Financials slumped on lingering long-term worries about
credit, with Nomura Holdings <8604.T> down 4.5 percent to 1,627
yen and No. 3 bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group <8316.T> down
2.1 percent to 758,000 yen. Mizuho Financial slid 2.1 percent to
411,000 yen.
Aeon tumbled 8.4 percent to 1,218 yen and Canon was down 2.2
percent to 4,870 yen.
Trade was light, with 762 million shares changing hands on
the Tokyo exchange's first section compared with last week's
morning average of 824 million.
Declining shares beat advancing ones by 887 to 655.
