*Nikkei down 0.9 percent on uncertainty about bailout plan
*Shippers fall on freight index, financials down after gains
(Adds stocks and comments)
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average fell 0.9
percent on Thursday, as shipping lines like Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha
<9107.T> slid on a tumble in a freight index and amid uncertainty
about the fate of the U.S. financial sector bailout plan.
While Congress was considering how and when to act about a
proposed $700 billion bailout, U.S. markets were in turmoil.
Investors stampeded into cash and safe-haven assets, and experts
said banks were hoarding cash, fearful that if they loaned money
to other banks it might not be repaid. []
"We are facing uncertainty about whether the U.S. bailout
plan will really be approved as was initially hoped," said
Yoshinori Nagano, chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.
The benchmark Nikkei <> shed 103.72 points to end the
morning session at 12,011.31. The broader Topix <> slipped
0.9 percent to 1,157.45.
"Investors were also disappointed U.S. stocks did not rise as
much as they had expected the previous day when the Japanese
market pared earlier losses on that expectation," said Tsuyoshi
Segawa, an equity strategist at Shinko Securities.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> fell 0.27 percent on
Wednesday, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down
0.20 percent.
Wednesday was also the last day on which investors were able
to buy many Japanese stocks and still receive dividends for the
April-September first half of the financial year.
Segawa said this ex-dividend impact took about 84 points off
the Nikkei.
SHIPPERS DOWN
The Baltic Exchange's chief sea freight index for global raw
materials trade dropped more than 6 percent to a 20-month low on
Wednesday, hurt by troubled financial markets, weaker commodity
prices and concerns over Asian demand.
Kawasaki Kisen sank 5.5 percent to 723 yen, while Mitsui OSK
Lines <9104.T> declined 5.1 percent to 1,023 yen and Nippon Yusen
KK <9101.T> dropped 4.2 percent to 770 yen.
Trading houses also fell on the weak outlook for the global
economy, with Mitsubishi Corp <8058.T> dropping 5.8 percent to
2,530 yen.
Nomura Holdings <8604.T>, Japan's biggest brokerage, slipped
2.2 percent to 1,472 yen. The stock had surged a day earlier
after the company said it would buy the Asian and European
operations of failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers
<LEHMQ.PK>.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group <8306.T> eased 1.2 percent to
925 yen, after jumping the previous day on news that it would
take a stake in U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley <MS.N>
[].
But Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) <8316.T> reversed
course and gained 1.2 percent to 692,000 yen. Media reports have
said Japan's third-largest bank planned to invest in U.S.
investment bank Goldman Sachs <GS.N>.
"Investments in U.S. brokerages by Japanese financial
institutions are positive in that they could boost their global
presence, but there's scepticism about whether those plans would
really work," said Nagano at Daiwa Asset Management.
Trade was light on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with
740 million shares changing hands, below last week's morning
average of 1.1 billion.
Declining stocks beat advancing ones by more than 2 to 1.
(Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Michael Watson)
