TOKYO - JAPANESE electronics maker Sharp Corp. said on Tuesday it expected an extraordinary loss of nearly US$500 million (S$721 million), as the value of a financial investment plunged.

Sharp said it would book 43.2 billion yen (S$692 million) in impairment losses in the quarter ending Dec 31 as the value of securities 'declined significantly and is unlikely to recover in the future.'

The company's full-year forecast 'is currently being examined and will be announced when the outlook becomes clearer,' a Sharp statement said.

Sharp did not specify the cause of the loss. But the Nikkei business newspaper said it stemmed from its investment in December 2007 in troubled fellow Japanese electronics firm Pioneer Corp.

Pioneer's share price has tumbled nearly 90 percent in 2008, during which Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index posted its biggest-ever percentage fall due to the global financial crisis.

The Nikkei said that Sharp was also paying for the US$120 million fine slapped by US authorities last month for fixing prices of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens with its competitors.

The global economic slowdown has badly hit Japan's electronics makers, which rely on demand for their products overseas. Sharp in October projected net profit in the current financial year would drop 44.2 per cent to 60 billion yen. -- AFP