Much of the uptrend in share prices has run out of steam as corporate investors stepped up sales to take profits and unwind cross-shareholding ties.

After climbing past the 20,000 level repeatedly in recent weeks, the benchmark Nikkei average has slid back.

Despite the seasonal corporate selloffs in the final month of the business year, however, the market's undertone remains strong.

The nation's ultralow interest rate is keeping money flowing into the market at an accelerating pace.

The key Nikkei average will probably stay between 19,500 and 20,800 in the near term.

Individual investors have returned to the market in search of potential gains, and investment trust funds remained net buyers last month for the seventh month in a row, with their net purchases topping 400 billion yen.

With worries about the Y2K computer problem and yen weakness fading away, there are indications that foreign investors -- recent net sellers -- have returned to being net buyers.

Although net sales by domestic corporate investors topped 22.3 trillion yen in the first two months of this year, well in excess of the 1.5 trillion yen in the January-March quarter of 1999, the Nikkei average then soared 1,025 points, or 5 percent.

The market now appears bracing for high-priced activity in April and beyond.

Although official figures due out shortly are widely expected to show a second consecutive quarterly fall in the nation's gross domestic product in the final quarter of last year, there is little dispute that an economic recovery remains solidly in place.

Listed companies as a whole are expected to chalk up a 10.7 percent year-on-year increase in pretax profits in the year ending this month and another double-digit increase in fiscal 2000.

Although worries remain over high-flying U.S. share prices, given the recent strength in the U.S. economy, a correction, if any, could prove to be moderate.

With the currency market locked in a crosscurrent between expectations of economic recovery in Japan and fears of higher interest rates in the U.S., the dollar-yen rate, another focal point, appears likely to stay in a 105-115 yen near-term range.