Tokyo stocks market july 14 2011, Nikkei Stock Average slipped

Tokyo stocks market july 14 2011, Nikkei Stock Average slipped : Tokyo stocks closed lower Thursday as a firm yen suppressed exporter shares for most of the day, until a sudden rise in the dollar and large-lot orders in Honda Motor late in the afternoon briefly pushed the index into positive territory.

The Nikkei Stock Average slipped 27.02 points, or 0.3%, to 9936.12, following a 0.4 rise Wednesday. The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues lost 3.65 points, or 0.4%, to 856.88.

September Nikkei 225 futures, which also saw heavy buying in the last hour of trading, closed down 20 points, or 0.2%, at 9930 on the Osaka Securities Exchange.

The yen was the focus of the day, strengthening against the dollar after comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke overnight left open the possibility of a third round of quantitative easing, while Moody's Investors Service put U.S. government bonds on watch for a possible downgrade. Major exporters Sony finished down 1.0% at Y2,127, and Toyota Motor fell 0.7% to finish at Y3,340.

"As dollar-selling pressure mounts, investors are pinning their hopes on upcoming U.S. earnings numbers as a possible catalyst for dollar-buying," said Yumi Nishimura, senior market analyst at Daiwa Securities. Specifically, market players are watching financial heavyweight JPMorgan Chase's earnings later in the global trading day, along with Apple and Intel next week.

Select Japanese exporter stocks moved higher Thursday due to a slightly stronger euro. Euro-sensitive Olympus finished 0.2% up at Y2,629 and Mazda Motor closed 2.4% higher at Y214.

"Mazda is also likely riding on sales growth expectations from its newly launched energy-efficient car," said Takuya Yamada, senior portfolio manager at ITC Investment Partners.

The dollar rose suddenly against the yen in the late afternoon, fueling speculation of government currency intervention and temporarily pushing shares up. But the Nikkei quickly shed its gains as the speculation came into question, with several traders saying the sharp rise wasn't likely due to intervention after all.

"Even if there was intervention, the overall trend for a stronger yen and a weaker dollar will not change," said Hisatsune Kobayashi, general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities, citing continuing concerns about the recovery of the U.S. economy.

Chip-related companies had another lackluster day after Dutch chip equipment maker ASML Holding warned of slumping consumer demand for devices such as mobile phones and laptops. AMSL, which also said third-quarter orders will fall to a two-year low, supplies equipment to chip makers such as Intel and Samsung Electronics. The warning followed guidance cuts from U.S. companies Novellus Systems and Microchip Technology earlier in the week.

Nikon, which makes chip equipment similar to that of ASML, was off 0.8% at Y1,795, while Advantest ended down 2.6% at Y1,473.

Meanwhile, Toyota Motor subsidiaries Toyota Auto Body jumped 9.3% to close at Y1,481 and Kanto Auto Works closed 4.0% higher at Y826 after the parent company said Wednesday it will turn the two car assembly subsidiaries into wholly owned units in January through share swaps.