Tokyo  - Japan's foreign reserves dropped 19.69 billion dollars in January from the month before but remained above 1 trillion dollars, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

The reserves fell to 1.01 trillion dollars at the end of January because of declines in US Treasury bond prices and the appraisal value of Japan's euro-dominated assets, the ministry said.

Japan had 890.77 billion dollars in foreign securities as of January 31, down from 908.02 billion dollars a month earlier.

Tokyo  - Stocks bounced back Friday in Tokyo after the yen weakened against the dollar and the US market rose overnight because of its government's measures to help the financial sector.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which fell below 8,000 Thursday, rose 199.69 points in morning trading, or 2.51 per cent, to 8,149.34.

The broader Topix index of all first section issues was also up 11.07 points, or 1.41 per cent, at 797.48.

Hanoi - Vietnam said Thursday that a possible resumption of Japanese official development aid (ODA) showed Hanoi was doing everything possible to cooperate with investigations of corruption in its foreign aid projects.

Japanese press reported Wednesday that the Foreign Ministry was considering resuming ODA to Vietnam. Japan halted all new aid in December, saying Vietnam had not cooperated in investigating a million-dollar kickback scandal involving Vietnamese officials and the Japanese consulting firm Pacific Consultants International (PCI).

Tokyo - Sanyo Electric Co on Thursday reported a net loss of 14.33 billion yen (160.33 million dollars) during the quarter that ended December 31 amid the global economic downturn and the yen's surge against the dollar.

The Japanese electronics company logged a net profit of 12.78 billion yen during the same quarter a year earlier.

Sanyo's operating income plunged in its third quarter to 6.87 billion yen from 28.96 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales dropped 22.4 per cent to 427.52 billion yen.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks ended lower Thursday as investors sold shares to lock in profits from the previous day's gains amid spreading concerns about the Japanese economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dipped 89.29 points, or 1.11 per cent, to close at 7,949.65. The index had snapped a three-day losing streak Wednesday, rising more than 2 per cent to close above 8,000.

But market sentiment was dampened Thursday after a series of sluggish corporate earnings reports and by the economic outlook at home and abroad.

Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva departed Thursday for Japan on a roadshow designed to restore confidence in the kingdom, which was plagued by political chaos last year.