* Chip shares drag Nikkei lower, but 10,000 line solid
* Property shares gain on sector upgrade
* SMFG slides after report on planned share issue
* Largely directionless, awaiting U.S. indicators
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average
slipped 0.7 percent on Monday, dragged lower by chipmakers after
disappointing guidance from a U.S. peer as investors searched for
clear signs that the economic recession may be easing.
But falls were checked by gains in property developers such
as Sumitomo Realty & Development <8830.T> after Daiwa Institute
of Research hiked its rating on the real estate sector to
"neutral" from "underweight", citing ongoing improvement in
credit markets and global confidence.
Market analysts said shares were taking a breather after
closing above 10,000 on Friday for the first time in eight
months, with investors focused on U.S. indicators due out later
this week.
"We've verified that markets have bottomed out but we have
yet to see what sort of form the recovery will take and we need
clear proof that it will continue," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head
of trading at Jujiya Securities.
"But now that the market's hit 10,000, there are a lot of
people who want to sell to take profits ahead of the U.S.
indicators later this week."
U.S. May housing starts, producer prices and industrial
production are set to be released on Tuesday, with consumer
prices coming out on Wednesday.
Markets will also be watching a summit of leaders from
Russia, China, India and Brazil -- the producers of 15 percent of
global output -- to be held in Russia on Tuesday. []
"Last week, the market gained on positive news such as
Chinese industrial production figures, which make it hard to deny
that the global economy is improving," said Kazuhiro Takahashi,
general manager of equities at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"There are a number of U.S. indicators due out later in the
week, which the market will use to confirm trends. But today,
there won't be a lot of direction."
The benchmark Nikkei <> shed 67.79 points to 10,068.03
after closing above 10,000 on Friday for the first time in eight
months. The broader Topix <> was flat at 950.50.
CHIPS CRUMBLE, PROPERTY POWERFUL
National Semiconductor <NSM.N> on Friday posted quarterly
results and gave an outlook that topped Wall Street's estimates,
but its guidance fell short in comparison to an outlook from
fellow chipmaker Texas Instruments <TXN.N> earlier in the week.
National Semiconductor's shares fell 6.1 percent while the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index <.SOXX> lost 1.8 percent.
That hit tech shares here, with Advantest Corp <6857.T>, a
maker of semiconductor testing devices, losing 4.8 percent to
1,761 yen and Tokyo Electron <8035.T> -- a top-ranked
manufacturer of chip devices -- down 3.6 percent at 4,780 yen.
TDK Corp <6762.T>, a maker of ferrite cores, dropped 2.7
percent to 4,380 yen, while Nikon <7731.T> lost 3.5 percent to
1,555 yen and silicon wafer maker Sumco <3436.T> shed 3.2 percent
to 1,375 yen.
Property shares powered higher on the Daiwa upgrade.
Comprehensive real estate developer Sumitomo Realty &
Development gained 8.1 percent to 1,814 yen, fellow developer
Tokyo Land <8815.T> surged 9.6 percent to 480 yen and Mitsui
Fudosan <8801.T> rose 5.2 percent to 1,791 yen.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc <8316.T> fell 4.6 percent
to 4,150 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported over the
weekend that the planned share issue by Japan's third-largest
bank is expected to raise more than 900 billion yen ($9.2
billion).
The share issue, which could reach close to 1 trillion yen,
would be up from SMFG's April plan to raise up to 800 billion
yen, the Nikkei said. Reuters last month reported that SMFG's
share issue could reach $9.1 billion. []
Japan Tobacco <2914.T> bucked the trend to rise 5.9 percent
to 321,000 yen after the world's third-largest cigarette maker
said on Friday it would buy British tobacco leaf company Tribac
Leaf Ltd's business operations to secure a stable supply of
tobacco leaf. []
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> edged up 0.5 percent to 3,880 yen
after financial weekly Barron's said it was well positioned to
take advantage of General Motors Corp's <GMGMQ.PK> woes.
[]
Trade fell off, with 1.2 billion shares changing hands on the
Tokyo Exchange's first section compared with last week's morning
average of 1.5 billion.
Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by nearly 2 to 1.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
