TOKYO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average is likely to fall on Wednesday in holiday-thinned trade after U.S. shares fell, hurt by further deterioration in the housing market and worry over weak consumer spending.
Japanese markets were closed on Tuesday for a national holiday.
Investors will be watching Toyota Motor Corp after the world's biggest automaker forecast its first-ever annual operating loss, blaming a relentless sales slide and a crippling rise in the yen in what it said was an emergency unprecedented in its 70-year history.
Many market analysts said the revision had been largely factored in.
"Japanese stocks will likely start lower and then be range-bound. Trade will be even lighter as we get closer to the end of the month, and U.S. markets will have a half day of trading on Dec. 24 and be closed on the 25th," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at Nikko Cordial Securities.
"The focus is on currency moves, but selling-pressure should be limited just like the market saying goes: 'no selling in thin trade.'"
Market participants expect the benchmark Nikkei to trade between 8,500 and 8,700 on Wednesday. It rose 1.6 percent on Monday to 8,723.78, the highest finish since Nov. 11. > Wall St stumbles on economic data, retail anxiety > Dollar gains vs yen, down vs euro in thin trading > Longer-dated bonds rise on weak home sales data > Gold slips on profit-taking in thin trade > Oil falls below $39 on economic gloom STOCKS TO WATCH
-- NTT
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will order Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp's (NTT) regional operating units to pull misleading advertisements for their fibre-optic telecommunications services, the Nikkei business daily said on Wednesday.
-- Toshiba Corp
Toshiba plans to spend up to 30 billion yen ($330 million) to build a lithium ion battery factory in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, boosting its production capacity for state-of-the-art batteries about 70-fold, the Nikkei business daily reported.
-- Funai Electric Co
Funai Electric will take over Philips' North American DVD, Blu-ray and other audiovisual operations, on top of the Dutch firm's TV business in the region that Funai had already acquired, the Nikkei business daily said.
-- Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Takeda said on Monday it has started late stage or Phase III clinical trials for its ATL-962 obesity drug in Japan.
-- Bridgestone Corp
Japan's largest tyre maker cut its operating profit forecast for the year to Dec. 31 to 118 billion yen from 155 billion yen, citing slumping sales in North America and Europe in the face of the global recession. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Chris Gallagher)