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Japan Hot Stocks-Trading houses, Arabian Oil, UMC, Isetan

TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) - The following stocks are on the move on Monday. **TRADING HOUSES UP ON YEN RETREAT, SCANDAL WEARS OFF**

Marubeni Corp and other trading houses up, helped by the yen's retreat. Marubeni up seven yen or 6.09 percent at 122 yen. Mitsui & Co Ltd up 32 yen or 5.24 percent at 643 yen.

Both shares had recently been hurt by local media reports that Mitsui paid Marubeni to refrain from bidding for a power plant contract. Mitsui said four of its top executives would voluntarily return some of their pay for three months. Traders said the shock was wearing off.

Other trading houses also rose, with Itochu Corp up 19 yen or 5.56 percentr at 361 yen.

Shares in the sector have recently been sold on fears the yen's rise over the past few weeks would hurt Japan's export businesses which thrive on a weaker domestic currency. The dollar last traded at around 119.08 yen, near a three-week high versus yen. 0535 GMT **ARABIAN OIL UP ON GAS FIELD DISCOVERY**

Arabian Oil up 65 yen or 10.32 percent at 695 yen after the company announced it had discovered a new gas field in the Gulf of Mexico.

The shares had been stuck in negative territory before the announcement, touching a low of 575 yen in the morning session. 0520 GMT **UMC JAPAN AT LIMIT-LOW ON WEAK PROFIT OUTLOOK**

UMC Japan, a semiconductor memory maker, slumping by its daily limit of 20,000 yen or 8.16 percent at 225,000 yen on worries about a weak profit outlook for the full year.

The shares fell by their daily limit last Friday after the company marked down its parent current profit for the current calendar year to 1.438 billion yen from a previous estimate of 2.014 billion.

UMC Japan is an affiliate of Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp . 0445 GMT **ISETAN UP ON MOODY'S UPGRADE**

Department store operator Isetan Co up 27 yen or 2.49 percent at 1,111 yen after Moody's Investors Service upgraded its senior unsecured ratings to Baa3 from Ba1 and set its outlook at stable.

Moody's said the latest move reflected Isetan's improved cash flow and credit profile, its cost-cutting measures, and expectations that the trend-setting department store would strengthen its market position. 0415 GMT **FURUKAWA ELECTRIC EASES ON REVISED EARNINGS OUTLOOK**

Furukawa Electric down seven yen or 1.86 percent at 370 yen, easing slightly in reaction to the company's downward revision of its earnings estimates and an announcement it would pay no interim dividend.

Furukawa, Japan's biggest electric wire and cable maker, said it now expected a group net loss of 115 billion yen ($968.2 million) in the current year to March 31, 2003, much worse than a previous forecast of a 49 billion yen loss. 0405 GMT **FUJITSU DOWN ON MURKY FORECAST, US ACCOUNTING CONCERNS**

Fujitsu Corp down 1.78 percent at 1.78 yen, underperforming a 2.07 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average and approaching a nine-year low.

On Friday, Japan's biggest computer maker said its operating loss in the April-June quarter narrowed from a year earlier, buoyed by a rebounding chip market, but warned of looming risks to its full-year outlook, spooking investors.

Traders say investor concerns about further U.S. accounting woes are also weighing on Fujitsu, which has already said it stands to lose about $20 million in orders from U.S. long distance carrier WorldCom Inc, which has filed for bankruptcy.

Fujitsu is one of Japan's largest manufacturers of telecoms infrastructure equipment. 0357 GMT **DOUTOR COFFEE UP, MARKET SAVOURS Q1 RESULTS**

Coffee shop chain Doutor Coffee Co Ltd up 180 yen or 3.24 percent at 5,730 yen after announcing firm first quarter earnings.

The shares earlier rose to as high as 5,780 yen after it said it earned group net profit of 576 million yen ($4.85 million) in the first quarter compared with 453 million yen in the previous quarter. Group sales rose to 14.48 billion yen from 12.08 billion yen, it said.

Doutor shares have been stuck in a downtrend for most of the past two years on fears its customers would be taken by foreign coffee chains such as Starbucks Coffee Japan and Tully's Coffee Japan Co Ltd .

Starbucks Coffee Japan last traded down 700 yen or 2.24 percent at 30,500 yen, while Tully's Coffee Japan traded down 2,000 yen or 0.43 percent at 465,000 yen. 0340 GMT **TOYOTA UP AFTER BOOSTING 2002 SALES PLANS**

Toyota Motor Corp up 35 yen or 1.27 percent at 2,795 yen after it boosted its global sales plan for 2002.

It raised its global sales plan by 200,000 units to 6.19 million and its global output plan by 280,000 units to 6.28 million. It also said it now expected group domestic output of 4.15 million vehicles, 250,000 more than initially planned. 0330 GMT. **ORIX UP, ENDING SIX-DAY LOSING STREAK**

Orix Corp, Japan's biggest leasing firm, up 240 yen or 3.35 percent at 7,400, snapping a six-session 19-percent losing streak.

Shares in Orix, which posted record profits in the business year to March, have lost about 40 percent in value since January 1, with the fall accelerated last month by a row with a Deutsche Securities analyst over the firm's disclosure practices. 0200 GMT **NORITZ DOWN AFTER LOWER FORECAST**

Noritz Corp down 56 yen or 5.71 percent at 924 yen, underperforming a 1.19 percent rise in the first-section TOPIX index .

Noritz, a maker of boilers for bath and hot-water supply systems, revised down its earnings forecast on Friday. It now expects to post a group net profit of 1.1 billion yen ($9.26 million) for calendar 2002, down 48 percent from the previous estimate of 2.1 billion yen. 0152 GMT **CHIP-EQUIPMENT MAKERS UP ON YEN, GOLDMAN SACHS UPGRADING**

Advantest Corp , Japan's top memory chip-tester maker, up 240 yen or 4.19 percent at 5,970 and Tokyo Electron Ltd , Japan's biggest chip equipment maker, up 100 yen or 1.73 percent at 5,880.

Chip-related stocks were broadly higher on bargain-hunting after the yen's retreat. A rating upgrade on their U.S. peers by Goldman Sachs also helped them to rebound from their year-to-date lows marked in the previous session. 0130 GMT **FUJI PHOTO UP ON YEN, U.S. MARKET REBOUND**

Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd up 210 yen or 6.09 percent at 3,660, having recovered quickly since it hit a 10-month intraday low of 3,390 yen in the previous session.

The U.S. stock market's rebound and a weakening in the yen encouraged investors to return to Fuji Photo and other major exporters, traders said.

The U.S. Dow index logged its best weekly gain since mid-May last week, while the dollar was around 118.60 yen in early Asian hours after it rose to nearly three-week high of 119.07 yen in offshore trade on Friday.

Fuji Photo is Japan's largest marker of photographic film, and depends heavily on U.S. demand and secures half of its sales overseas. 0058 GMT **AUTOS HIGHER ON WEAKENING YEN, LED BY NISSAN **

A weakening in the yen helped boost auto issues, led by Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Japan's third-biggest automaker, which was up 38 yen or 4.94 percent at 808.

The sector subindex up 2.38 percent, compared with a 1.9 percent rise in the Nikkei average .

Second-ranked Honda Motor Co Ltd up 190 yen or 3.97 percent at 4,980 and its bigger rival Toyota Motor Corp up 25 yen or 0.91 percent at 2,785. 0033 GMT ($1=118.77 Yen)