Nikkei Gains 2%; T&D, Tokio Marine, Sony, Canon Up

Chandrasekhar Atreya
18 Nov, 2010
New York City

Tokyo stocks gained more than 2% as the yen weakened, exporters rallied and insurance companies gained ahead of earnings. U.S. State Department removes sanctions on Inpex over nuclear supplies to Iran. Mitsubishi and Xstrata plan to double thermal coal output at their plant in Australia.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo stocks gained more than 2% as the yen weakened, exporters rallied and insurance companies gained ahead of earnings. U.S. State Department removes sanctions on Inpex over nuclear supplies to Iran. Mitsubishi and Xstrata plan to double thermal coal output at their plant in Australia.[/R]

Stocks in Japan gained more than 200 points ahead of earnings from insurance and on the rising expectations of earnings from banks. Exporters gained as well after U.S. retail sales increased more than expected and the yen weakened.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 201.97 to close at 10,013.63. The broader Topix gained

The yen closed in trading at 83.17 yen to a U.S. dollar.

Toyota Motor Corp said today that it is preparing to launch electric subcompact car in Japan, Europe and the U.S. by the year 2012. The company said it will start testing for its safety in these three markets by 2011.

Toyota Motor Corp also said Wednesday it created a wholly-owned R&D company in Changshu, Jiangsu Province in China. This is the fifth overseas facility of the company and is capitalized at $234 million. The facility will study car-usage trends in China besides consumer needs and demand for green vehicles. It will also develop engines for China market.

The revised composite index of coincident economic indicators dropped to 100.9 in September from 102.1 in August, slightly better than the preliminary result of a 1.3 point decline to 102 points released on November 9, the Cabinet Office reported Wednesday.

The U.S. State Department said in a press release Wednesday that Inpex is no longer subject to sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.

Xstrata Plc and Mitsubishi Corp said Wednesday they will nearly double the production capacity of their Ulan thermal coal mine in New South Wales to 12.9 million tons and will start commercial production by 2014.

Stock Movers

The dollar regained and rising U.S. retail sales lifted the stocks of exporters.

Sony Corp gained 2.2% to 2,945 yen while Canon Inc rose 1.3% to 4,015 yen. Citizen Holdings Co rallied 1.2% to close at 520 yen.

Banks and Security companies closed higher. Resona Holdings rose the most in the index by 9.2% to close at 500 yen. Shinsei Bank surged 7.1% to 75 yen and Mizuho Securities gained 7% to close at 199 yen.

Showa Denko KK increased 10 yen or 6.3% to 168 yen and the stock has been nearly flat in the last one year of trading and still 15% lower from its price of 198 at the beginning of the year.

Insurance companies traded higher ahead of earnings today and tomorrow. T&D Holdings Inc is scheduled to release earnings after the close and Tokio Marine Holdings Inc jumped 5.3% to 2,439 yen ahead of earnings tomorrow.

In the first quarter ending in June, T&D reported revenues increased 11% to 64.2 billion yen and earnings rose 47% to 11.7 billion.