Kyodo economic news summary -4-.

TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo

---------- Nomura posts 492.36 bil. yen in net loss for April-Dec. period

TOKYO - Japan's largest brokerage house Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it fell into the red with a group net loss of 492.36 billion yen for the first nine months of fiscal 2008 ending March, with its balance sheet crippled by the deepening global financial turmoil.

The huge loss compares with a group net profit of 86.01 billion yen logged in the same period a year earlier, raising the likelihood Nomura will record red ink in fiscal 2008 for the second consecutive fiscal year.

---------- Snow Brand, Nippon Milk to integrate managements in Oct.

TOKYO - Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Japan's third-largest dairy products maker by sales, and Nippon Milk Community Co., the country's fourth largest, said Tuesday they will integrate their managements by setting up a joint holding company in October.

Given the two companies' sales in fiscal 2007 ended March 31 last year, the deal will create a dairy products group with sales of 506.3 billion yen, compared with the 586.8 billion yen in sales chalked up by Morinaga Milk Industry  Co., Japan's second-largest dairy products maker after Meiji Dairies Corp., which had sales of 706.9 billion yen.

---------- Toyota union eyes 1.9 mil. yen bonus, sharply down from FY 2008

NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp.'s labor union has decided to seek an average of about 1.9 million yen in annual bonuses per worker for the 2009 business year, down more than 500,000 yen from the previous business year, in the forthcoming wage negotiations with the management, union officials said Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Workers' Union has decided on the amount, equivalent to five months' wages plus 200,000 yen, at a time when the automaker is grappling with rapidly falling vehicle demand in the face of the global economic slump.

---------- Nikkei rises nearly 5% on bargain hunting after hitting 3-month low

TOKYO - Tokyo stocks rose sharply Tuesday, sending the key Nikkei index up nearly 5 percent from its three-month closing low the previous day, with investors buying recent decliners such as export-oriented auto and high-tech issues amid a pause in the yen's rise.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 378.93 points, or 4.93 percent, from Monday to 8,061.07, recovering the psychologically important 8,000 threshold for the first time since last Thursday on a closing level. In mid-afternoon, the Nikkei index hit the day's high of 8,115.15, up 5.64 percent.