Tokyo's Nikkei share average finished down 0.35 percent on Wednesday after losses by Advantest Corp. and other tech firms outweighed gains by Internet conglomerate Softbank Corp. and the banking sector, Reuters reported. Aggressive buying of banks and other issues by foreign investors had appeared set to help the Nikkei post a fresh four-year high. But selling of Advantest and others tech issues pushed the benchmark into negative territory by late afternoon. "This buying has been pretty incredible ... banks were especially impressive," said Ken Masuda, a senior dealer in equities at Shinko Securities. "Had the Topix risen again today, it would have been its eighth straight win. Stocks like Advantest had just risen too much." The Nikkei closed down 42.55 points at 12,273.12. The broader TOPIX index fell 0.16 percent or 2.02 points to 1,250.10. Advantest, the world's biggest maker of chip-testing devices, lost 2 percent to 8,850 yen, snapping a two-day rally. Ibiden Co. Ltd., a maker of printed circuit boards, fell 2.4 percent to 3,700 yen. U.S. personal computer maker Gateway Inc. cut its 2005 earnings forecast earlier this week, raising concerns that growth in the sector was slowing. Citizen Watch Co. fell 6 percent to 891 yen and was the biggest percentage loser in the Nikkei. On Tuesday, Citizen posted a 52 percent fall in quarterly operating profit and cut its full-year outlook by 27 percent on weak demand for cellphone parts. Internet firm Softbank rose 7.5 percent to 5,450 yen, becoming the biggest percentage gainer among the Nikkei 225 issues and the most actively traded share in terms of value. The company has gained for six straight sessions as investors warm to improvements in its broadband and fixed-line businesses. Elsewhere, Yahoo Japan Corp., a joint venture between Softbank and U.S. Internet portal Yahoo Inc. said it planned a 2-for-1 share split on November 18. Yahoo Japan shares finished up 3.2 percent at 261,000 yen before the announcement. --mor 1155 Local Time 0855 GMT
