Tokyo - Tokyo stocks ended Thursday morning trading lower, after investors sold shares to lock in profits from the previous day's gains amid spreading concerns over the Japanese economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 66.88 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 7,972.06. The index snapped a three-day losing streak Wednesday, rising more than 2 per cent to close above the 8,000 level.

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

Tokyo - Mitsubishi announced Wednesday that it is quitting the Dakar Rally due to the global economic crisis.

"The sudden deterioration of the global economy made it necessary for the company to focus its resources more tightly, leading to today's announcement," said the carmaker in a statement.

Mitsubishi quit the Dakar, and other cross-country rallying events, as it announced a projected net loss of 60 billion yen (670 million dollars) and an operating profit of
5 billion yen for 2008/09.

Tokyo - Panasonic Corp said Wednesday it expected to suffer the first annual net loss in six years due to slow sales of digital consumer electronics.

The company's net loss was to reach 380 billion yen (4.25 billion dollars) for fiscal 2008 that ends March 31, which would force cuts of about 15,000 jobs worldwide by March 2010, it said.

Panasonic also plans to close 13 plants in Japan and 14 others abroad by March due to declining demands for its products.

Tokyo  - Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Mazda Motor Corp joined a growing number of Japanese automakers Wednesday in predicting losses for the current fiscal year, all dragged down by the yen's rise against the dollar and slumping demand.

Mitsubishi said it expected net losses of 60 billion yen (670 million dollars) for the 2008-09 business year ending in March, the first loss in three years.

Tokyo - Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd incurred a net loss of 19.2 billion yen (214.7 million dollars) in the October-December quarter because of a strong yen and slow sales amid the global economic downturn, the company said Wednesday.

The conglomerate - which manufactures Subaru cars as well as trains, industrial products and aerospace technology - reported 10 billion yen in profit during the same quarter a year before.

Tokyo  - Sharp Corp expected to see an operating loss of about 10 billion yen (111.82 million dollars) in the current fiscal year because of declining sales of liquid-crystal-display televisions, Japanese media reports said Wednesday.

It would be the first operating loss Sharp would report since 1953 when it began disclosing operating earnings, according to the Japanese business daily The Nikkei.

The Japanese electronics company earlier had projected 130 billion yen in operating profit for the year than ends March 31.