TOKYO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average is likely to fall on Friday after a weak reading on the U.S. job market pushed down shares on Wall Street, with market players keeping an eye on the yen after Japan's intervention last week.
The benchmark Nikkei is likely to trade between 9,400 and 9,550, said Monex Inc market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama, after falling 0.4 percent to 9,566.32 on Wednesday. Japan's stock market was closed on Thursday for a national holiday.
"The market will probably stay weak throughout the day," Kanayama said, due to the fall in U.S. shares and as the yen has edged higher against the dollar over the past couple of days.
The S&P 500 lost 0.8 percent on Thursday and broke below a key support level, after data showed U.S. jobless claims had risen unexpectedly in the latest week, a sign the labor market still faces headwinds.
The dollar stood at 84.51 yen, up 0.1 percent from late U.S. trading on Thursday. That was not far from Thursday's low of 84.26 yen on trading platform EBS, the dollar's lowest against the yen since Wednesday last week, the day of Japan's yen-selling intervention.
The Nikkei had hit a seven-week intraday high earlier this week, building on gains made since Japan intervened last week to weaken the yen in its first currency intervention in six years.
Japan sold an estimated 1.8 trillion yen on Sept. 15, a record for a single day, to help its exporters and to counter deflation, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan pointing to more potential yen selling. > Markets end lower on jobs data; Nike rises late > Growth worries hit euro; dollar outlook still grim > Bonds up as jobless rise fuels easing prospects > Gold eyes $1,300 on unimpressive US, euro-zone data > Oil bounces on gasoline rally in choppy trading
STOCKS TO WATCH
-- Nissan Motor Co
Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, and its 44 percent owner Renault SA of France will jointly develop a platform for at least 10 models to reduce procurement costs, the Nikkei business daily reported.
-- Asahi Breweries Ltd
Asahi Breweries will buy about a 10 percent stake in China's No. 1 food processing company, Ting Hsin International Group, the Nikkei business daily said.
-- DeNA Co Ltd
Social networking service operator DeNA Co Ltd said on Wednesday it has formed a capital and business tie-up with Astro Ape Studios, LLC, a U.S.-based developer of social game applications for smartphones.
-- Kagome Co Ltd
Kagome, a major producer of tomato processed foods, raised its operating profit forecast for the six months to the end of September to 5.8 billion yen, up 31.8 percent from its previous forecast of 4.4 billion yen, citing a boost to sales of beverages from the hot weather. (Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Chris Gallagher)