* Nikkei edges down after touching 6-mth high
* U.S. stress results reassure but little impact
* Toyota grinds lower after report of larger 09/10 loss
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average edged down
0.1 percent in seesaw trade on Friday, off a briefly touched
six-month high, with some banks crawling higher after U.S.
regulators told top banks to raise $74.6 billion.
But Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> ground down 2.2 percent to
3,950 yen after the Nikkei business daily said it is likely to
forecast a bigger operating loss of 700 billion yen ($7.1
billion) this financial year as global car demand stays weak
[]. Toyota announces results after the close.
Trade picked up, with the Nikkei <> slipping in and out
of negative territory as investors took profits after recent
sharp rises and waited for U.S. jobs data later in the day.
The benchmark has recovered 34 percent from the March bear
market lows but is down 33 percent from its close a year ago.
"Investors want to take profits after recent gains, but a
sense that further rises lie in store is inhibiting selling,"
said Katsuhiko Kodama, a senior strategist at Toyo Securities.
"Reassurance is spreading about U.S. banks after the stress
test results, since it's obvious they'll be fine for another
couple of months at least, but more questions could emerge after
first-half results come out."
Ten of the top 19 largest U.S. banks were found to need funds
to build a capital cushion officials hope will restore faith in
financial firms and set a course out of the deepest recession in
decades. []
With much of the key information out prior to Thursday's
formal announcement, analysts said the impact was limited, while
the affected banks' prompt statements about their intentions
allayed fears about possible financial failures.
"Basically investors are now looking to macro indicators for
confirmation that the global economy is truly on a rising trend,"
said Masayoshi Okamura, head of trading at Jujiya Securities.
"It seems pretty clear that things have bottomed out, with
better-than-expected indicators in a number of cases, but now
what people want is proof that recovery is established."
The benchmark Nikkei <> edged down 4.6 points to
9,381.08 after briefly touching a fresh six-month high of
9,422.50, with some analysts saying they saw resistance around
9,500 -- a high marked last November.
The broader Topix <> was down 0.1 percent at 884.79.
TOYOTA TROUBLES
Toyota, the world's top automaker, is also likely to miss its
earnings estimate for the past year by about 10 percent and
report an operating loss of around 500 billion yen, the Nikkei
said without citing sources. Toyota declined comment.
Consensus estimates had put Toyota's operating loss for the
year ended March 31 at 469 billion yen yen.
Other carmakers lost ground as well, with Honda Motor Co
<7267.T> slipping 3.3 percent to 2,950 yen and Suzuki Motor Co
<7269.T> shedding 2.8 percent to 1,993 yen. Nissan Motor Co
<7201.T> edged down 0.4 percent to 521 yen.
But banks gained, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
<8306.T> up 1.6 percent at 627 yen and Mizuho Financial Group
<8411.T> up 0.9 percent at 234 yen. No.3 bank Sumitomo Mitsui
Financial Group <8316.T> slipped 0.8 percent to 3,890 yen.
Fast Retailing <9983.T> rose 1.9 percent to 10,490 yen after
it said same-store sales at Uniqlo stores in Japan jumped 19.2
percent in April, as warm weather early in the month helped drive
up sales of summer items such as T-shirts and polo shirts.
[]
But Dentsu Inc <4324.T>, Japan's No.1 advertising agency,
lost 0.8 percent to 1,910 yen after warning of a 20.5 billion yen
($208 million) loss for the last financial year, its first loss
in at least three decades, dragged down by a huge writedown on
its stake in French advertising firm Publicis <PUBP.PA>.
[]
Trade picked up slightly on the Tokyo exchange's first
section, with 1.2 billion shares changing hands, compared with
last week's morning average of 1.1 billion.
Advancing shares outpaced declining ones by 758 to 749.
(Editing by Michael Watson)
