(Adds stocks, details)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks slid on Thursday,
weighed down by real estate firms and automakers, which were sold
on worries about the health of the U.S. economy.
U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as investors shifted into
defensive shares, especially drugmakers, but market players said
Tokyo shares had risen on Wednesday in anticipation of such gains
and had little energy to rise again.
"We need to see what happens in the United States,
particularly what policy steps the Federal Reserve may adopt,"
said Takeshi Ozawa, senior fund manager at Norinchukin Zenkyoren
Asset Management.
"The overall direction in terms of individual shares is not
so clear, but in the short-term it does seem as if overall
selling simply out of fear may be over."
Shares of automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> fell
despite a slightly softer yen due to continuing worries about
U.S. economic health, and this weighed on the market as a whole.
"I haven't heard of any specific (reason) for the fall, but
there are concerns about the U.S. economy," said Yusuke Sakai, a
manager of equities trading at Mizuho Securities.
"Japanese automakers should do well considering the
industry's ecological focus, but if the overall pie becomes
smaller, they are bound to be negatively affected."
Realtors were also a drag on the market, apparently after a
bearish brokerage report.
By midsession, the Nikkei <> had slipped 0.8 percent to
14,482.22, a loss of 116.94 points. The broader TOPIX <> was
down nearly 1 percent at 1,410.57.
CARS SLIDE, HIGH-TECHS HIGHER
Toyota was down 1.9 percent at 5,700 yen, while Honda Motor
Co Ltd <7267.T> lost 1.4 percent to 3,430 yen and Nissan Motor Co
Ltd <7201.T> shed 2.8 percent to 1,099 yen.
Sumitomo Realty & Development <8830.T>, a major real estate
developer, had slipped by 4.4 percent to 2,505 yen, and
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd <8802.T> was down by 3.2 percent at
2,390 yen. Other realtors also fared poorly.
But high-tech companies made up for some of their losses of
recent sessions after Tokyo Electron <8035.T> said orders for its
chip- and flat panel display-making equipment rose 55 percent in
October-December from the prior quarter to 198 billion yen thanks
to recovering capital spending by panel makers. []
Tokyo Electron surged 6.1 percent to 6,440 yen, and chip
tester maker Advantest Corp <6857.T> gained 2.9 percent to 2,875
yen.
Trade was relatively active, with 880 million shares changing
hands on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, compared with a
morning average of 724 million for the final week of December.
Declining shares beat advancing ones by more than two to one.
(Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
