The key Nikkei average is hovering around 20,000, shrugging off worries about corporate sales to unwind cross-shareholding ties.

Even stocks belonging to the "old economy" are starting to lure buy orders.

The market will probably experience nervous trading through mid-March as participants continue to watch business results for fiscal 1999, which ends this month. The market will trend upward in the last half of March as trading for the new business year begins.

The April influx of pension-fund money usually causes active trading.

Under these circumstances, the 225-issue Nikkei average appears likely to hit 23,000 or 24,000 in June and resume its ascent in autumn after a little breather.

Buying interest remains focused on information-related stocks, but some of these will face a correction in light of excessive purchases.

Currently, the best areas for investment are machinery, semiconductor production equipment, electronic components and other sectors supported by favorable earnings prospects.

Some issues that are being dumped in order to liquidate cross-shareholding ties are undervalued and deserve buying interest.

The Tokyo market has finally bottomed out and should now be viewed as a young market. With this in mind, corrections should not be viewed as a negative sign, but as a good opportunity to buy.