Nikkei flat; Yaskawa's weak earnings drag on machinery stocks

* Yaskawa's earnings pull down Fanuc, Keyence
* Nikkei poised to post first weekly fall in six weeks
* Lawson jumps on strong quarterly results

By Ayai Tomisawa
TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei was flat on Friday
morning with investors shifting their focus to corporate earning
as weak profits from some firms such as Yaskawa Electric dragged
on machinery stocks.
The Nikkei share average .N225 was flat at 21,643.07 in
choppy trade. For the week, it has fallen 0.5% and is poised to
post the first weekly drop in six weeks.
As Japanese markets will be closed for a holiday on Monday,
investors are refraining from taking large positions, analysts
said.
They said that the market will likely focus on quarterly
earnings results from U.S. and Japanese companies next week.
On Thursday, Yaskawa Electric 6506.T , a motion control
equipment maker with exposure in China, kicked off the earnings
season and reported a 58% fall in its operating profit for the
March-May quarter. That caused its stock price to fall around 5%
on Friday. Yaskawa's results are monitored closely by investors
as the firm is seen as an indicator of Chinese demand.
"As the market has already priced in a U.S. rate cut this
month and there are few other major macro events in the near
future, the next focus is whether there are further U.S. rate
cuts for the rest of the year," said Takuya Takahashi, a
strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Takahashi said that investors are keen for clues on business
sentiment and will look to company earnings for direction.
Yaskawa's weak results took a toll on other machinery
stocks. Fanuc Corp 6954.T dropped 2.4%, Keyence Corp 6861.T
shed 1.5% and SMC Corp 6273.T plunged 1.9%.
Convenience store Lawson Inc 2651.T jumped more than 5%
after its first-quarter operating profit rose 12.4%, thanks to
strong sales from an upscale supermarket chain Seijo Ishii Co
that Lawson acquired in the past.
The broader Topix .TOPX shed 0.2% to 1,576.23. Declining
issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,163 to 876.

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)