国际英语新闻：Nikkei slips 0.37% on strong currency, intervention concerns

TOKYO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks edged lower for a second successive day of losses, with the key Nikkei stock index dropping 0.37 percent having drifted in and out of negative territory for both sessions on Wednesday.

Brokers said that investor sentiment was dampened following the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinting at lower growth projections and possible quantitative easing.

''The Fed's statement was biased more clearly toward further monetary easing...and seems to show its determination to avert what the Bank of Japan did wrong (in the past in its handling of deflation),'' said one Tokyo-based strategist.

''The stock market is totally dependent on currency moves now, '' he said, adding that additional easing steps by the Fed, if taken, would likely make the yen stronger and hurt Japanese stocks.

On Wednesday the yen rose to as much as 84.78 from 85.57 against the U.S. dollar today in Tokyo, the highest level since Japan's latest intervention into the forex market to stem the yen 's rise. The yen climbed to 82.88 that day, the highest level since 1995. It traded at at the close of Tokyo stock trading yesterday.

Japan's strong currency continues to hamper the nation's export- led recovery as a stringer yen ensures Japanese products are less competitiveness in the international market and that profits made abroad are diminished when repatriated.

Most Japanese exporters have set their assumption rates for dollar/yen at 90 yen and at 110-115 yen for euro/yen in the year to March 2011.

Brokers said that some investors hit the sidelines in later trade on Wednesday as rumors began about further currency intervention by the Japanese government, the first round of which took the market by surprise and a head of a public holiday on Thursday.

''Since last week's currency intervention, we've seen money shifting from shares of companies that depend on domestic demand to exporters on expectations of a softer yen. But it might change should the yen gain,'' said Masayoshi Okamoto, equity strategist at Jujiya Securities Co.

Canon, which gets more than 80 percent of its sales abroad, lost 1.2 percent to 3,860 yen and Sony retreated 1.9 percent to 2, 588 yen.

Industrial robotics maker Fanuc Ltd. which relies on 80 percent of revenue from abroad, shed 0.7 percent to 10,520 yen.

Among Japanese automakers, Toyota Motor Corp. lost 1 percent to 3,040 yen and Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, fell 1.6 percent to 2,953 yen.

Panasonic Corp. marked a particular bright spot on Wednesday's market as the electrical company climbed 2.4 percent to 1,138 yen.

The company plans to avoid issuing new shares as part of its buyouts of Sanyo Electric Co. and Panasonic Electric Works Co. and will use its cash and loans to finance the purchases, the Nikkei English News reported.

Sanyo was unchanged at 137 yen. Panasonic Electric Works slid 0. 1 percent to 1,107 yen.

Some 1.47 billion shares changed hands on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, down from Tuesday's volume of 1.53 billion shares, with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones by 886 to 575.