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Japanese stocks fell for a fourth straight session on Thursday, hitting six-week closing lows as the prospect of higher US interest rates pushed buyers to the sidelines.
Selling hit stocks across the board, with banks and rubber product makers taking the worst beating. Fuji Photo Film Co and some other tech stocks also wilted as investors gave the thumbs-down to profit outlooks announced last week.
Analysts said investors were reluctant to build positions before seeing US employment figures for April, due out on Friday, which are expected to give more clues on the timing of a rate rise in the United States.
Sato also said he was concerned that foreigners' buying of Japanese stocks could decline, as such purchases over the past year have been spurred in part by the low cost of borrowing due to low interest rates in the United States.
The Nikkei average lost 1.62 percent to 11,571.34, the lowest close since March 25 when it ended at 11,530.91.
The Nikkei has lost 592.55 points or 4.9 percent since Tuesday last week, a day after it ended at a 33-month closing high of 12,163.89. The Tokyo market was shut last Thursday and for the first three days of this week because of public holidays.
The broader TOPIX index fell 1.78 percent to close at 1,165.24, also the lowest finish in six weeks.
Decliners outnumbered gainers 1,278 to 218 on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Trading slowed, with 1.335 billion shares changing hands versus last week's daily average of 1.517 billion. Mizuho Financial Group Inc, the country's biggest banking group, dropped 4.79 percent to 497,000 yen after selling by foreigners stoked fears that overseas players might be reversing their positive investment stance on Japan.
Smaller rival UFJ Holdings Inc gave up 5.27 percent to 647,000 yen, helping to send the banking sector's sub-index down 3.48 percent - making it the worst performer among Japan's 33 industrial sectors.
Fuji Photo sank 4.23 percent to a four-week low of 3,400 yen after the company last week forecast a nine percent drop in profit for the year to March 2005.
UBS on Thursday cut its rating on Fuji Photo to "neutral2" from "buy1" and Goldman Sachs lowered its rating on the company to "in-line" from "outperform". ING analyst Joel Scheiman maintained his "hold" rating but warned that the earnings announcement would hurt the stock price.
Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd lost 3.42 percent to 6,490 yen. UBS said the company's fiscal 2003/04 earnings results came in line with estimates, but cut its rating to "neutral" from "buy2", saying the share price was likely to peak in April-June.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

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