Nikkei Drops; Consumer Confidence Rises in June

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Sanjay Barot
13 Jul, 2010
New York City

Japan stocks fell after China said it will moderate steel production. Consumer confidence climbs in June. Public pension fund of Japan sold more government bond than it bought last year. Nissan will halt production in Japan for three days in July. Sumitomo to increase zinc output in Bolivia by 4%.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Stocks in Japan fell after China said it will moderate steel production. Consumer confidence climbs in June. Public pension fund of Japan sold more government bond than it bought last year. Nissan will halt production in Japan for three days in July. Sumitomo plans to increase zinc output in Bolivia by 4%.][/R]

Japanese stocks fell in today’s trading as the yen strengthened following a slump in Chinese stocks after China said it will moderate steel production.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.11% or 10.88 to close at 9,537.23 in Tokyo. The broader Topix Index also declined 0.4% to close at 854.39 after rising as much as 0.7% in today’s trading.

Japan’s consumer confidence rose in the month of June, despite the number being below 50 meaning pessimists outnumber optimists. The confidence index climbed to 43.5 in June from 42.8 in May, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today.

Public pension fund of Japan sold more government bonds than it bought for the first time in nine years, according to data released by Bank of Japan.

The fund sold a net 443.2 billion yen of government bonds in the year ending March 31 and held 79.5 trillion yen of securities at the fiscal year end, the bank’s data showed.

Nissan Motor Co today said it may halt production at plants in Tennessee and Mexico because of delays in receiving engine parts from Hitachi. Engine control units made by Hitachi couldn’t be delivered on time to Nissan because integrated circuits needed to make them were not available from a supplier, Hitachi said yesterday.

“Nissan will stop production at factories in Japan from July 14 to July 16 because of the supply delay. However, a decision on whether to halt production in North America hasn’t been made yet,” said COO Toshiyuki Shiga while addressing reporters in Yokohama today.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd maybe forced to buy steel plates for the first time from China and South Korea to build ships if domestic prices are hiked too much.

“We wouldn’t deny the possibility of using imported steel if we fail to agree with domestic mills on prices. If we find overseas steel offers us an advantage in terms of quality, delivery and price, we will have to turn to it,” said Nobumitsu Kambayashi, the President of Kobe-based Kawasaki Heavy’s shipbuilding unit in an interview yesterday.

Sumitomo Corp, Japan’s third-biggest trading company, is planning to boost zinc production at its 100% owned mine in Bolivia by 4% this year as the operations runs at full capacity, said an executive of the company.

“The company will raise production of refined metal at its San Cristobal mine to 256,000 tons in 2010 from 246,000 in 2009,” said General Manager of the project in an interview yesterday.