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Nikkei falls 0.6 pct, caution rules before earnings

Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:19pm EDT

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(Updates to midmorning)

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TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.6 percent on Thursday, led down by drugmakers like Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (4502.T) as investors locked in recent gains before Japanese corporate earnings hit their stride.

The market's fall was offset somewhat by exporters like Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T), which rose on a softer yen.

Financials were mixed, with Japan's largest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) flat.

"The market trend has been upward, but investors cannot yet commit fully to buying," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

"There are also earnings ahead. Today and tomorrow will be the first peaks of the season."

The earnings report season gets into full swing on Thursday, with steelmaker JFE Holdings Inc (5411.T) and Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS) among major firms due to announce results later in the day.

As of 0053 GMT, the benchmark Nikkei average .N225 was down 82.00 points at 13,497.16. The broader TOPIX index lost 0.5 percent to 1,307.51.

Drugmakers were the top drag on the Nikkei, with Japan's largest, Takeda, falling 2.2 percent to 5,410 yen.

Honda rose 1.6 percent to 3,230 yen.

Nippon Sheet Glass Co (5202.T) rose 5.2 percent to 443 yen after the maker of glass used in cars and electronics tapped former Pilkington executive Stuart Chambers as its new president and CEO. [ID:nT249420]

Nippon Sheet, which bought bigger British glassmaker Pilkington in 2006, is betting on overseas growth to catch up to domestic peer Asahi Glass Co (5201.T).

Yoshinoya Holdings Co Ltd (9861.T) slid 3.8 percent to 154,000 yen after an Agriculture Ministry official said Japan has suspended imports from a California plant of National Beef Packing Co after it found a box including a beef part it bans due to the risk of mad cow disease. [ID:nL23158381]

Japanese media said the banned part was found in a storage facility of Yoshinoya's, which is a major beef bowl chain restaurant. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka)

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