PREVIEW - Asia Q2 earnings to reflect downturn; H2 recovery eyed

SEOUL (Reuters) - Sluggish consumer demand and concerns about the strength of a possible second-half recovery are the main issues surrounding Asian companies' second-quarter results. Following is a sectoral summation of what to expect.

TECHNOLOGY

Most Asian tech firms, from memory-chip makers to handset vendors, are still feeling the effects of the global financial crisis, which has weakened demand for electronics and gadgets.

Brisk demand for flat-screen TVs in China and Japan, spurred by stimulus measures, likely helped Japanese electronics makers trim their losses in the latest quarter.

But profitability at major high-tech exporters such as Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp has remained under pressure because of a strong yen, and further yen gains against the dollar this month bode ill for companies' near-term outlook.

Any earnings turnaround this year is expected to be mild as the electronics industry lacks strong growth products, in contrast to the decade's start, when mobile phone demand hastened the sector's recovery from the Internet bust.

The worst may be over for the memory chip industry, which has been ravaged by two-and-a-half years of low demand and plummeting prices, thanks especially to a more stable market for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, which are used widely in PCs.

But the end of the downcycle isn't expected to translate into any sudden windfall for the industry, where only market leader Samsung Electronics is set to report a divisional profit for the quarter.