Nikkei hurt by weak machinery data, global econ worries

in News 
TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) - The Nikkei benchmark lost ground
on Monday, hurt by a surprise fall in domestic machinery orders,
further signs of a global economic slowdown and losses for
Toyota Motor after a weaker-than-expected earnings
forecast.	
    Japan's core machinery orders unexpectedly dropped in April
in a sign that disruptions to energy supplies are impeding
capital expenditure although demand should later rise when the
country rebuilds its earthquake-ravaged northeast coast.

    The figures followed news that China's May sales to the
United States and the European Union slumped to their weakest
since late 2009, excluding Lunar New Year holidays, underlining
the view that the world economy is stumbling and pushing U.S.
stocks lower. 	
   "The market has been hit by a double whammy today
of both negative external and domestic factors," said Hajime
Nakajima, deputy general manger at Cosmo Securities.	
    In another negative for risk assets like stocks, the euro
tumbled more than 1 percent on Friday against the U.S. dollar as
fears about Greece's debt returned to the forefront and
investors curbed expectations about the European Central Bank's
interest-rate hikes.	
    The benchmark Nikkei fell 0.8 percent to 9,441.34 at
the midday break, while the broader Topix shed 0.8
percent to 810.66.	
    But analysts said that Tokyo shares still look attractive
with about 63 percent of stocks listed on the Tokyo exchange's
main board trading at or below book value.	
    By contrast stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 are at
about 2.1 times book value, according to ThomsonReuters
Starmine.	

    TOYOTA DISAPPOINTMENT	
    Toyota Motor on Friday forecast a larger-than-expected 35
percent fall in annual profit on Friday and warned that the
strong yen was making it difficult to justify keeping production
in Japan. 	
    Toyota dropped 2.6 percent to 3,215 yen, and rivals also
fell with Nissan Motor shedding 1.0 percent to 785 yen
and Honda Motor falling 2.1 percent to 2,922 yen.	
   Japan Tobacco fell 3.7 percent to
302,500 yen. The company announced a steep fall in domestic
cigarette sales for April and May, after damage to production
facilities from the earthquake forced it to reduce the number of
brands it offers.	
    Kansai Electric Power Co , Japan's second-largest
power company, fell 4.2 percent to 1,131 yen after the utility
on Friday asked customers to reduce power consumption to make up
for lost capacity, prompting brokerage Morgan Stanley UFJ cut
its target share price to 1,400 yen from 1,900 yen.