Japan stocks likely to drop on US recession fears

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks are likely to
fall on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street after
worse-than-expected U.S. jobs data fuelled fears of a recession
in the world's biggest economy.

One stock to watch will be Sony Corp (6758.T). The Nikkei
business daily reported on Monday the consumer electronics
maker's joint venture with Ericsson (ERICb.ST) will stop making
cell phones for top Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc
(9437.T) as it shifts its focus to overseas markets.[ID:nT333184]

"The Tokyo market is likely to open lower following Wall
Street. Investors will be watching to confirm whether the market
bottoms out this week," said Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general
manager of the equity department at Cosmo Securities.

"If machinery orders are worse than expected, the market is
likely to fall further," he said.

Machinery orders for January, regarded as a leading indicator
of capital spending, will be released before the market opens.
Economists forecast a 2.9 percent rise in January from the
previous month.

Recession worries increased after the U.S. Labor Department
said on Friday 63,000 nonfarm jobs had been eliminated in
February, in sharp contrast to Wall Street economists' forecasts
that 25,000 positions would be added.

Market participants expect the benchmark Nikkei average
.N225 to move between 12,500-12,900 on Monday. The index fell 6
percent last week.

Nikkei futures traded in Chicago 2NKc1 closed at 12,655 on
Friday, down 105 points from the close in Osaka JNIc1.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2258 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1293.37 -0.84% -10.970
USD/JPY JPY= 102.11 -0.37% -0.380
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.5411 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 976.6 0.41% 4.000
US CRUDE CLc1 105.38 0.22% 0.230
DOW JONES .DJI 11893.69 -1.22% -146.70
-------------------------------------------------------------
> Wall St drops as job data deepens economic woe [.N]
> Dollar rebounds after Fed liquidity move [USD/]
> Benchmark bonds up as data shows jobs slump [US/]
> Gold ends lower on fund sales as platinum sinks [GOL/]
> Oil ends down, eases off record above $106 a barrel [O/R]
STOCKS TO WATCH

-- Yachiyo Industry Co (7298.Q), Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T)

Yachiyo Industry Co, a Honda Motor subsidiary, will invest 50
billion yen to set up a manufacturing complex in Japan by 2010 to
make 240,000 minivehicles a year, the Nikkei reported on Sunday.
[ID:nT214252]

-- Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T)

The yen has strengthened too much, the head of Toyota said on
Friday. President Katsuaki Watanabe also told reporters that
North American demand for this year looks weaker than the company
had estimated late last year. [ID:nT217791]

-- NOF Corp (4403.T)

Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases, chemical
company NOF Corp and others have developed a substance that may
provide protection against multiple strains of the influenza
virus, the Nikkei reported on Monday.

-- Pioneer Corp (6773.T)

Consumer electronics maker Pioneer said on Friday it would
fall into the red for the fourth straight year on costs to scrap
production of plasma displays as it rejigs its strategy in the
cut-throat flat TV market. [ID:nT230208]

-- Denso Corp (6902.T)

Denso, Japan's largest autoparts maker, plans to spend about
10 billion yen to build a car air-conditioning factory in
Fukushima Prefecture that will come online as early as 2010, the
Nikkei reported on Saturday.

-- Yamaichi Electronics Co (6941.T)

Integrated circuit parts maker Yamaichi Electronics on Friday
said it expected to post a group net loss of 2.9 billion yen in
the year to March 31, worse than its previous forecast for a loss
of 500 million yen. It said sales have been hit by falling demand
and price competition, while its test solutions business has been
hurt by sluggish spending by chipmakers on back-end processing
equipment.

-- NTT Data Corp (9613.T)

NTT Data is expected to post a group operating profit of 99
billion yen for the business year to March 2009, up 4 percent
from its estimate for the current year, thanks in part to lower
labour costs, the Nikkei said on Saturday.

The newspaper said sales will likely rise 4 percent to about
1.12 trillion yen as strong orders for Internet protocol phone
systems offset softer demand for systems development from the
financial sector.

-- Nisshin Seifun Group Inc (2002.T), Nippon Flour Mills Co
(2001.T), Showa Sangyo Co (2004.T)

Nisshin Seifun, Nippon Flour and Showa Sangyo will likely
raise the price of flour for commercial use by about 10-20
percent late next month to account for a scheduled 30 percent
hike in the price of wheat, the Nikkei said on Saturday.

It will mark the third and biggest hike since last May, when
flour prices were increased for the first time in 24 years, the
newspaper said.
(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)