(Adds stocks, detail)
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average
slipped 0.9 percent on Friday, dented by Inpex Holdings <1605.T>
and other oil-related shares as oil prices fell after China said
it will raise domestic fuel prices.
Market participants said investors locked in profits in
Japanese stocks amid uncertainty about the U.S. economy and after
the shares recently found more favour than European and U.S.
stocks.
A fall in recent gainer Kyocera Corp <6971.T> and other
exporters helped to drag down the overall market.
Oil above $130 is still high and moves to lift prices of
oil-related products in China and other emerging countries seem
negative for the market, said Soichiro Monji, chief strategist of
the equity management department at Daiwa SB Investments.
"They can no longer maintain the prices of those products,
leading consumers to refrain from using cars and to avoid using
electricity," he said. "In other words, it could lead to an
economic slowdown."
"Also, Japanese stocks have been solid compared to overseas
markets and a considerable amount of profit-taking is in store."
The benchmark Nikkei <> ended the morning session down
132.74 points at 13,997.43, extending losses after a 2.2 percent
decline on Thursday.
The broader Topix <> shed 0.9 percent to 1,363.02.
"The fall is due to the weekend, and also because investors
are concerned about how the U.S. market will do today as its
previous day's rebound was still weak," said Yutaka Miura, deputy
manager of the equity information department at Shinko
Securities.
U.S. crude was down 13 cents at $131.86 a barrel <CLc1>. It
plunged nearly $5 on Thursday as China's surprise move to
increase fuel prices lead to worries about a curb in demand from
the world's second largest consumer.
INPEX, EXPORTERS DOWN
Inpex, the country's biggest oil and gas explorer, slipped
2.2 percent to 1.31 million yen and Nippon Oil <5001.T>, Japan's
largest oil distributor, fell 1.5 percent to 708 yen.
Exporters fell, with Kyocera down 2.3 percent at 10,500 yen
and Sony Corp <6758.T> shedding 1.3 percent to 5,150 yen.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group <8316.T> fell 0.7 percent to
890,000 yen even after sources familiar with the matter said that
Japan's third-largest bank is considering investing about 100
billion yen ($926 million) in British bank Barclays <BARC.L>.
[]
"This is certainly an opportunity for Sumitomo Mitsui, but
they don't seem to be taking full advantage of it," said
Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment
Mangement in Tokyo.
"If they are going to do this properly, they will need to
increase the size of their investment."
On the positive side, Toyo Sugar Refining Co Ltd <2107.T>
soared 32 percent to 161 yen, and Nippon Beet Sugar Manufacturing
Co Ltd <2108.T> jumped 10.8 percent to 267 yen on expectations
for sugar demand growth after U.S. commodity trading group
Cargill declared force majeure on corn syrup deliveries.
[]
Trade was light on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with
968 million shares changing hands, compared with last week's
morning average of 1.2 billion.
Declining shares beat advancing ones by a ratio of more than
2 to 1.
(Additional reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Brent
Kininmont)
