21.   Sales of heavy electric machinery were down, and home appliance sales were flat.

22.   Sectors that contributed most to the decline were general machinery, electric machinery and plastic products.

23.   Toshiba Corp. of Japan said Tuesday an extensive feasibility study is under way for the electric machinery maker to set up a semiconductor fabrication facility abroad.

24.   Toshiba is a Japanese electric machinery maker.

25.   Among the industry groups asked to help the LDP financially were automakers, steelmakers, electric machinery and chemical industry groups, the major business newspaper said.

26.   Japanese electric machinery maker Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Tuesday it had launched wholly-owned VSIS Inc. in the US computer heartland Silicon Valley.

27.   Japanese electric machinery makers greeted the short-term benefits from a weaker yen but stressed they needed to expand offshore operations and increase imports of parts.

28.   Mitsubishi Electric, a leading electric machinery maker, hopes to expand operations in Europe by joining hands with the French company, he said.

29.   Nikko Research said strong earnings growth of the electric machinery sector and chemicals sector would lead the earnings rebound among listed companies.

30.   The agreement also allows the Japanese electric machinery maker to add customized functions to the chips, the two companies said in a joint statement.