* Yen hits 14-yr high on dlr; Nikkei slips but off lows
* Metals and trading houses gain as gold prices hit record
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average
slipped 0.5 percent on Thursday as the yen hit a 14-year high
against the dollar, pressuring exporters, but losses were braked
by rises in resource-linked shares after gold hit a record high.
The dollar broke below 87.00 yen and fell as far as 86.52 yen
<JPY=> on trading platform EBS, its lowest since July 1995.
Investors fret about a strong yen because it eats into exporter
profits when repatriated.
But the Nikkei was holding above a four-month low hit in
morning trade after rising back above its 200-day moving average,
prompting short-covering.
While some market players said stock market losses might be
tempered because the yen wasn't rising as much against other
currencies, others were pessimistic and said that a strong yen,
when combined with fears of more capital raising and policy
uncertainty, would keep Tokyo shares under pressure.
"People had already factored in the dollar's fall to the
87-yen level to an extent, limiting losses, but if it stays at
the current levels for too long things will be pretty tough and
there will be a bad impact on company earnings," said Noritsugu
Hirakawa, a strategist at Okasan Securities.
"This will contribute still further to the current investor
shunning of Japan. If there were signs that the major problems
were being dealt with, things might get better, but as they are
now it's pretty hard."
The benchmark Nikkei <> fell 51.69 points to 9,389.95
after dipping as much as 1.2 percent in morning trade, but was
still clinging above its 200-day moving average at about 9,360.
The broader Topix <> lost 0.4 percent to 8829.96.
"Other markets in Asia except Japan may have a stronger day,
considering fundamentals such as the economic outlook," said
Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"But in Japan, in addition to the strong yen, we have
concerns about more capital raisings and growing uncertainty
about the government's economic policies."
Among exporters, Canon Inc <7751.T> slid 1.5 percent to 3,310
yen and Advantest Corp <6857.T> dropped 2.4 percent to 1,967 yen.
Honda Motor Co <7267.T> lost 2 percent to 2,740 yen.
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> slipped 1.8 percent to 3,360 yen
after it and the U.S. government said the automaker would fix
accelerator pedals in 4 million cars and trucks to address a
safety issue linked to bursts of sudden acceleration and deadly
accidents. []
Asahi Glass Co Ltd <5201.T> plunged 8.2 percent after saying
it will raise up to $1.1 billion by issuing euroyen convertible
bonds to prepare to expand capacity in flat TV panel glass and
solar panel materials. []
Goldman Sachs also downgraded its rating to "neutral" from
"buy" and removed it from its "conviction buy" list, citing a
lack of near-term catalysts.
But metal stocks and trading houses bucked the market trend
and gained after gold prices hit record highs above $1,190 an
ounce on Wednesday as the dollar fell sharply. []
Sumitomo Metal Mining <5713.T> rose 1.5 percent to 1,466 yen
and trading house Mitsubishi Corp <8058.T> gained 1 percent to
1,954 yen.
(Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
((elaine.lies@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1807; Reuters
Messaging:elaine.lies.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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