By Brad Frischkorn TOKYO--Tokyo stocks fell Thursday as dollar weakness invited profit-taking in recent outperformers, including Astellas Pharma and SoftBank, while major banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined on lower profit projections. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 58.79 points, or 0.4%, to 15,037.24 following the prior session's 2.3% rise to the 15,000 mark for the first time since January 2008. The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues also slipped 7.62 points, or 0.6%, to 1,245.23, with 23 of 33 subindexes ending in negative territory. Participation levels remained robust, in-line with recent sessions. Volume totaled 5.14 billion shares worth almost Y4.1 trillion. It was the third time in the last four sessions for volume to reach the 5 billion mark. The indexes were hurt by the dollar's fall to the 102.00 mark mid-morning, which was enough to spur retail investors to take profits after the market's recent strong advances. "After rising 6.4% over the last four sessions, the market got a much-needed breather," said Tachibana Securities market analyst Kenichi Hirano. Better than expected Japan January-March gross domestic product figures were not seen as having a powerful effect on stock prices on the day, but the strong consumer spending component will surely attract the attention of foreign investors going forward, especially if some consistency in the figures can be achieved, Mr. Hirano added. "Small- and mid-cap names came under sharp selling, but many longer-term investors were engaging in dip-buying," said an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage. "The GDP figures show that Japanese economic growth may have legs." Among heavily-weighted shares, Astellas Pharma dropped 2.7% to Y5,850 after Wednesday's 4.6% rise, while SoftBank fell 2.3% to Y5,820 after having gained 25% since May 2. Shares of big Japan banks all ended sharply lower despite booking solid fiscal year earnings. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 3.6% to Y706 while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group lost 3.0% to Y4,770 and Mizuho FG dropped 3.1% to Y219. The group booked their largest aggregate consolidated profit in seven years, thanks to higher values for their stock holdings and an increase in lending in the latter half of 2012. For its part, MUFG posted a Y852.62 billion net profit, beating its own Y670 billion forecast. However, all three banks forecast lower profits for the current year. "Most of the stock price appreciation from the group has been based on expectations for such stellar results," said an analyst at a domestic brokerage, noting MUFG's 119% rise over the last 6 months through Wednesday. "But if the effects of 'Abenomics' continue to take hold and lending increases, sector shares should remain resilient to major selloffs." Other earnings-related movers included Dai-ichi Life Insurance, which added 3.9% to Y161,600 after hitting a new all-time high. For the just-ended business year, it said its net profit rose 59% to Y32.43 billion and projected the figure to rise 14% this year. It also announced a 100:1 stock split. Fellow insurer T&D Holdings also added 4.0% to Y1,364 after guiding for a net profit rise of nearly 4%, or Y66 billion from the current fiscal year, and pledging to buy back Y3 billion worth of its stock. Olympus Corp. surged 18% to Y3,215 after the company said it expects to more than triple its group net profit to Y30 billion in the current fiscal year, helped by the restructuring of its imaging business and growth in medical device business. June Nikkei 225 futures closed up 20 points, or 0.1%, to 15,070 on the Osaka Securities Exchange. Write to Brad Frischkorn at bradford.frischkorn@dowjones.com

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