Kyodo economic news summary -5-.

TOKYO, Nov. 24 Kyodo

---------- UFJ Holdings posts 674 billion yen net loss in fiscal 2004 1st half

TOKYO - UFJ Holdings Inc. reported Wednesday a group net loss of 674.28 billion yen in the fiscal first half, a reversal from a 179.85 billion yen profit a year earlier, due to massive bad-loan disposal costs.

UFJ Holdings, which groups UFJ Bank, UFJ Trust Bank and other financial units, said its consolidated pretax balance saw a loss of 474.88 billion yen, compared with a profit of 136.31 billion yen a year before, with operating revenues falling 0.5 percent to 1,211.04 billion yen for April-September.

---------- BOJ board members concerned over IT-related inventory adjustments

TOKYO - The Bank of Japan said Wednesday that some members of its Policy Board have been concerned about possible significant inventory adjustments of goods related to information technology in Japan.

''With regard to recent inventory adjustments of IT-related goods in Japan, many members said that inventories would need to be adjusted only slightly for the time being partly because adjustments had started at an earlier stage,'' it said citing minutes of an Oct. 12-13 board meeting.

---------- eAccess' stock ends lower in debut on TSE's main section

TOKYO - Shares of broadband Internet service company eAccess Ltd., which debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main section Wednesday, ended the day down from their last day of trading on the Mothers market for start-up companies, due apparently to profit-taking.

eAccess, a major provider of asymmetric digital subscriber line Net hookup services established in November 1999, is one of the fastest and youngest companies to list shares on the TSE First Section, according to the firm.

---------- World semiconductor capacity utilization rate drops in 3rd quarter

TOKYO - The capacity utilization rate of global chipmakers in the third quarter of this year dropped 2.6 percentage points from the previous quarter to 93.1 percent, the first fall in seven quarters, the Japan unit of the Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics said Wednesday.

SICAS, based in the Netherlands and consisting of 45 major chipmakers worldwide, said the rate for metal-oxide semiconductors fell for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2002.

---------- MHI to set up machine tool sales unit in Hong Kong

TOKYO - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday it will set up a machine tool sales and service unit in Hong Kong to try to strengthen its machine tool business in China.

The company, MHI Machine Tools H.K. Ltd., will begin operating in December and will establish sales and service bases in Beijing and Shanghai next spring.

---------- Supermarket, dept. store sales fall for 8th month in Oct.

TOKYO - Sales at Japan's supermarkets and department stores fell in October from a year earlier for the eighth straight month on a same-store basis due to typhoons and rainy weather, according to industry data released Wednesday.

Supermarket sales dropped 4.1 percent to 1,192.98 billion yen, the Japan Chain Stores Association said in a preliminary report covering 8,431 stores operated by 97 supermarket chains.

---------- Tokyo stocks stage mild rebound on bargain-hunting

TOKYO - Tokyo stocks staged a slight rebound Wednesday, aided by solid gains in the banking sector and bargain-hunting in select export-related issues following Monday's sharp falls.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average edged up 22.94 points, or 0.21 percent, from Monday to close at 10,872.33. The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index of all First Section issues inched up 1.16 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,090.93. Japan's financial markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday.

---------- Cash bonds, futures prices end flat amid lack of fresh incentives

TOKYO - Both cash government bonds and bond futures were flat in Tokyo as investors refrained from active trading due to a lack of fresh incentives.

The yield on the key No. 264 10-year, 1.5 percent issue ended unchanged at 1.400 percent from Monday.

---------- Margin stock buying in Japan down for 10th straight week

TOKYO - Margin buying on Japan's three major stock exchanges fell last week for the 10th straight week, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said Wednesday.

The balance of shares bought on credit from brokerages during the period came to 2,376.89 billion yen, down 32.77 billion yen from the previous week, according to data collected at the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya bourses.