Tokyo Stocks Turn Lower in Morning

Tokyo, July 11 (Jiji Press)--Stocks turned lower on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Monday morning, due chiefly to Wall Street's setback late last week attributed to disappointing U.S. employment data.
At the morning close, the 225-issue Nikkei average stood down 48.17 points, or 0.48 pct, at 10,089.56. On Friday, the key market gauge rose 66.59 points.
The TOPIX index of all first-section issues was down 2.89 points, or 0.33 pct, at 871.45, after gaining 3.86 points the previous trading day.
The market got off to a weak start after U.S. stocks were hit by a wave of selling on Friday as the closely watched U.S. jobs data for June turned out far below market projections, brokers said.
Tokyo stocks were also pressured by the yen's rise against the dollar and the euro.
But later, the market cut its early losses "thanks to hope for recovery of Japanese corporate earnings ahead of the quarterly earnings reporting season later this month," said Ryuta Otsuka, general manager at Toyo Securities Co.'s information and research division.

The impact of the weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report was not so strong as to reverse the recent receding of worries over a U.S economic slowdown, Toshiyuki Kanayama, market analyst at Monex Inc.'s Financial Intelligence Department, said.
Therefore, Tokyo stocks resisted further falls, he added.
Brokers said that investors appear to be taking a cautious stance due to concerns over overheating of the market following its recent hefty gains.
The market is expected to enter a correction phase, brokers said.
Losers topped winners 791 to 661 on the TSE's first section in the morning, while 198 issues were unchanged.
Half-day volume came to 683 million shares.

Automakers Toyota and Honda lost ground.
High-tech makers Hitachi, Canon, Panasonic and Sharp came under selling, along with semiconductor-related Elpida Memory, Advantest and Tokyo Electron.
Major losers also included megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui.
By contrast, power utilities Tokyo Electric, Kansai Electric and Chubu Electric gained ground.
Ryohin Keikaku, the operator of Muji-brand miscellaneous goods stores, surged 5.36 pct after the company on Friday revised up its group operating profit forecast for the business year to February 2012 to 15,490 million yen, up 14.3 pct from its previous estimate.