Nikkei Gains; Domestic Auto Sales Drop 31%

Chandrasekhar Atreya
01 Dec, 2010
New York City

Japanese stocks gained and the yen rose. Domestic auto sales drop 31% in November from a year earlier as customers held back after the expiry of one-time government subsidy. October steel shipments declined 0.6% from a year ago.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Japanese stocks gained and the yen rose. Domestic auto sales drop 31% in November from a year earlier as customers held back after the expiry of one-time government subsidy. October steel shipments declined 0.6% from a year ago.[/R]

Tokyo stock market had a lukewarm start weighed down by the rising yen as well as weak Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks. After dropping intra-day, the index bounced back to close higher.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.51% or 51.01 to close at 9,988.05. The yen closed at 83.75 yen to the dollar and 109.58 yen to the euro.

Domestic new car sales in Japan fell 30.7% in November from a year earlier, to 203,246 vehicles, data released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association today showed.

These figures marked a decline for the third month in a row. The data also showed that passenger vehicles sales dropped 33.5% to 178,463 vehicles while sale of trucks fell 10.7% to 8,261 units.

Flat-panel television sales in 2010 are expected to increase 1.8 fold from a year ago to 25 million sets helped by the Japanese government’s eco-point incentive program, a research firm said on Tuesday.

Funds raised and reported to the Japanese government in 2009 by political organizations totaled 124.43 billion yen, down 0.7% from 125.28 billion in 2008, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Tuesday.

Sumitomo Corp said today it will buy a 29% stake in Chinese drug maker C&O Pharmaceutical Technology (Holdings) Ltd and take the second largest stake in the company.

Steel exports decreased in October from a year ago by 0.6% to 3.41 million tons, the Japan Iron & Steel Federation said today. This marked the first drop in 15 months on a drop of 17.9% in exports to South Korea and a fall of 9% to Thailand. Exports to China increased 5.6%.

Nihon Apex, the Osaka-based property developer mired in financing difficulties was ordered by the Osaka District Court to be liquidated on November 19, the Nikkei reported.

The firm had about 5 billion yen in debts, decided to dissolve at the shareholders meeting held on July 31.

Shipments of electronic parts from Japan grew 5% in September, from a year ago to, 317.1 billion yen, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said on Tuesday.

Shipments of small motors used in power windows and other electrical components surged 26% while the steepest fall was registered by shipments of high-frequency parts.

Toshiba Corp said it will enter the business of sewage sludge treatment using a design that emits 80% less carbon dioxide and also convert the waste into fuel. Existing sewage treatment plants in the country incinerate the sludge at 850 degree centigrade, a process that emits huge volumes of carbon dioxide.

By contrast, Toshiba’s new design incinerates the sludge to 500 to 600 degrees centigrade and carbonates it, which can then be used as a substitute for coal and other fossil fuels. The operating costs of the plant could be reduced by selling the treated sludge to power plants.

Stock Movers

Touei Housing Corp reached a 10-year high of 1,052 yen amid expectations that earnings across the entire housing industry will be better than expected.

Tokyo Electric Power Co rose 0.87%, for the fourth day in a row, to close at 1,967 yen.

E-Guardian Inc, the web page surveillance firm, closed at 2,700 yen on its debut on the TSE.

Sony Corp climbed for the third day in a row and closed today above 3,000 yen for the first time since May 13. The stock closed at 3,015 yen, up 44 yen from Tuesday.

Ichigo Group Holdings Co surged after it announced on Tuesday its plan to buy 100% stake in asset management firm Japan Office Advisors.

Asahi Glass fell 3% or 28 to close at 905 yen.

Elpida Memory lost 6.22% or 62 to close at 935 yen after reports showed that companies in China had more than needed inventory of personal computers.