Tokyo stocks mixed on tankan gloom


NTT DoCoMo launched its commercial 3G service Monday, sending its share price higher

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks were mixed by midday Monday as the Bank of Japan's latest tankan survey confirmed Japan is falling into recession.

Gloomy profit expectations also helped put pressure on the market, with tech stocks Sony, Toshiba and NEC well down.

But banking stocks and mobile giant DoCoMo moved ahead.

The Nikkei ended the morning session down 6.5 points or 0.07 percent to be at 9768.18, after touching a low of 9604.09.

The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index strengthened during the morning, moving out of the red to close 12.03 points up at 1035.45.

Markets closed in Korea, Taiwan, China, HK

Elsewhere in the region, markets in Australia and Singapore were higher, while New Zealand eased slightly after opening higher.

Markets are closed in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China for the thanksgiving and moon festivals.

In Japan, the headline diffusion index for large manufacturers in the BOJ's September quarterly survey of corporate sentiment came in at minus 33, down 17 points from minus 16 in the previous survey and worse than economists' forecasts of minus 28.

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp was down 350 yen or almost 8 percent to 4040 yen.

After the close on Friday, Sony cut its group net profit forecast by 89 percent to 10 billion yen ($84 million) for the year to March 2002 due to restructuring charges and slumping sales in the U.S., which account for 30 percent of its total.

NEC, Toshiba give ground

NEC Corp lost 3.7 percent to 937 yen, extending Friday's 8.81 percent loss.

That came after the world's third-largest chipmaker projected a 150 billion yen net loss for the current business year, compared with an original forecast of a 65 billion yen profit.

Toshiba lost more than 6 percent in the morning session to be down 29 yen to 427 yen.

Losses were kept in check by Wall Street's performance last Friday where the U.S. Nasdaq put on 2.61 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.91 percent.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc, Japan's third-largest banking group, rose 3.2 percent to 960,000 yen after it said late on Friday that it expects a group net loss of 70 billion yen for the six months ended September 30, cutting its May prediction of a 150 billion yen group net profit.

MTFG said it would post a massive appraisal loss of 417 billion yen from the steep fall in Tokyo stock prices.

DoCoMo up on 3G launch

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's dominant mobile phone carrier, put on 80,000 yen or almost 5 percent to 1.69 million yen.

DoCoMo's stock has gained about 30 percent since the U.S. air attacks last month. It is launching the world's first third-generation (3G) mobile phone services on Monday after a four-month delay.

Telecommunications rival KDDI lost 13 percent or 43,000 yen to 283,000 yen.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 38.2 points or 1.25 percent to 3087.7, with market heavyweights News Corp, BHP, Telstra and National Australia Bank leading the way.

BHP added 2.3 percent to A$8.78, while News was up 3.5 percent to A$12.84.

In New Zealand the Top 40 eased during the day, slipping from 1.26 points higher to fall 12.33 points into the red at 1846.49.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index was up 13.11 points or 1 percent to 1322.64.

Reuters contributed to this report.