October 21, 2001	Sunday	Shaba'an 3, 1422

TOKYO, Oct 20: The world’s number two semiconductor maker NEC Corp. of Japan said on Friday a plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange by March 2002, could be postponed as market conditions in the United States deteriorate.

There is a possibility, said a spokesman for the major Japanese hi-tech firm.

Originally we planned to list by the end of this fiscal year, so by March 2002, he said. NEC is evaluating the market conditions... and they aren’t great but we planned to list this fiscal year and there is still time.

A news report said earlier the unfathomable impact on US share prices and business sentiment of last month’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, coupled with the subsequent war in Afghanistan had prompted NEC to delay floatation plans.

NEC judged listing in the year to March 2002 would be difficult, as it is hard to tell the global economic trend under the current situation in which there is no clear sign of an early settlement to military action against terrorism, said the Japan Industrial Journal without citing sources.

NEC planned to raise hundreds of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) through the listing, it said.

The company has been pushing with its telecommunications business in North America and was expected to use the funds for mergers and acquisitions (involving US and other companies), it said.

However the spokesman said NEC does not plan to raise funds through going public on Wall Street because the listing would be through a share transfer, although it does hope to create fresh opportunities to link up with rival technology firms.

Listing in New York will give the firm a more global perspective and make us a more favourable option for alliances (with foreign firms), he said.

Late last month NEC cut an earnings forecast for the year to March 2002, hit by a slump in demand for technology and the expected fallout from the terrorist attacks on September 11.

It now expects a net loss of 150 billion yen for the fiscal year, reversing an earlier estimate of a 65 billion yen profit announced in July.

NEC reversed earlier losses on the Tokyo Stock Exchange triggered by the news it may postpone listing in New York. It ended the day up 1.03 percent at 1,175 yen.—AFP