Fifth Weekly Rise in Nikkei Index

Chandrasekhar Atreya
03 Dec, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Japan closed higher after U.S. retail chain stores sales surged in November and home sales index increased. European Central Bank also stepped up buying of bonds of weak economies. Finance minister propose to revise taxes on dividend and capital gains from 2012.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Stocks in Japan closed higher after U.S. retail chain stores sales surged in November and home sales index increased. European Central Bank also stepped up buying of bonds of weak economies. Finance minister propose to revise taxes on dividend and capital gains from 2012.[/R]

Stocks in Japan closed higher tracking the gains Asia and in the U.S. indexes after U.S. home sales index gained and comparable sales at retail chain stores surged 6% in November.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.10% or 9.80 to close at 10,178.32 for the day and gained 1.38% for the week. The broader Topix advanced 0.2% to 877.22 and climbed nearly 1.4% for the week.

The yen closed at 83.47 to a dollar in Tokyo trading.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda proposed to trim tax breaks on dividends and capital gains for listed companies from January 2012 that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2011.

Nissan Motor Co said today that it will launch its five seat all-electric car Leaf, by December 20, as the competition heats up in environmentally cleaner cars.

Electric vehicles that emit no carbon dioxide are expected to be the mainstay product of the company’s next-generation vehicles. The cheapest model of Leaf is priced at 3,764,250 yen, which can be purchased at 2,984,250 yen by taking advantage of government subsidies for electric vehicles.

Sales of flat-panel television sets in November soared 5.3 times in volume terms from a year ago, according to data collected by GfK Marketing Services Japan Ltd from roughly 4,000 mass retailers of consumer electronics.

The spike was triggered by spurt in sales ahead of government proposal to halve the eco-point rewards for energy saving appliances from this month.

More flat-panel television sets were sold in emerging markets than in industrialized nations for the first time ever in the quarter to September, according to data released by DisplaySearch on Wednesday.

Worldwide shipments rose 23% to 50.51 million units in this period from a year ago. While the combined shipments from Japan, North America and Western Europe increased 11.4% to 25.15 million units, the tally for China, Asia outside of Japan, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa totaled 25.36 million units, up 36.8%.

The number of Japanese travelers, to both domestic and international destinations, is expected to reach 29.34 million by the end of the year and during the New Year holidays, according to details available from JTB Corp based on advance bookings made.

The 0.7% increase in travelers registered a year ago from December 23 to January 3 is the first increase in four years.

Sawai Pharmaceutical Co, maker of generic drugs, offered a merger proposal to Kyorin Holdings Inc to expand into drugs for treatment of respiratory diseases.

Sawai valued Kyorin at 1,400 yen to 1,600 yen per share in the offer.

Pro-Rector Coating Co, a 50-50 joint venture of Kobe Steel Ltd with U.S. Steel Corp will spend about $400 million to boost coated steel sheet output by 50% to 1.5 million tons per year.

The two partners will add a new production line to the factory in Ohio operated by Pro-Rector.

Sumitomo Corp, the trading house of Japan, expects its money-losing new businesses in the environmental field to turn profitable after three years and expects to generate net profits of 50 billion yen after 10 years of operations.

The trading house aims to quickly secure 200,000 kilowatts generation capacity in global solar power business and also step up its appliance recycling business in China as well as make further investments in green start-ups.

Samsung SDI Co, the Korean firm, maintained its position as the world’s premier lithium ion battery manufacturer for the second consecutive quarter in the July September period, Techno Systems Research Co said on Thursday.

Shipments globally reached 210 million units in the quarter, while Sanyo Electric Co came in second with about 4 million units less of global shipments.

IHI Marine United Inc, a subsidiary of IHI Corp, has developed a tanker and bulk carrier that will emit 30% less carbon dioxide than its existing offerings, in its efforts to round off its eco-ship series.

Stock Movers

Canon Inc gained 1.5% to 4,110 yen contributing the most to the gains of both the Nikkei and the Topix. Fanuc Corp rose 1.29% to close at 12,550 yen.

Mitsui & Co added 0.5% to 1,341 yen and Marubeni Corp added 2.2% to 569 yen.

JX Holdings, Japan’s largest copper producer, gained 1.1% to close at 540 yen.

Fast Retailing, the clothing chain operator led the decliners in the Nikkei index with a loss of 2.98% to 12,990 yen after saying its Uniqlo store sales in Japan fell for the fourth month in a row.