Tokyo down on DoCoMo delay report

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks opened lower on Tuesday after a reported delay in NTT DoCoMo Inc's launch of third-generation cellular phone services.

That report hit shares in the top mobile phone operator and those of cell phone makers.

"Given the overnight tumble on Nasdaq and the service delay news, this Tokyo fall is just inevitable," said Hidenori Karaki, equities general manager at Tokyo Mitsubishi Personal Securities.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said DoCoMo will delay its planned launch of 3G cellular phone services to October from May due to technical problems. A DoCoMo spokesman declined to comment.

The benchmark Nikkei index was down almost 200 points to 13,520.24 after an hour of trading. The capital-weighted TOPIX index fell 18.58 points or 1.40 percent to 1,312.73.

Weak sentiment for semiconductor shares weighed on Japanese stocks, with Advantest Corp, a top manufacturer of semiconductor testing devices, sliding 4.07 percent to 14,150 yen.

Despite the sharp fall in early trade, Tokyo's downside is limited with investors reluctant to take major positions before seeing who will be assigned to key economic ministers' posts in a new cabinet as an indication of how serious Junichiro Koizumi is in pressing ahead with structural reforms, traders said.

Koizumi appeared set to win the race for president of the dominant Liberal Democratic Party, and hence prime minister, later on Tuesday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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