Japanese Railcar Makers Get $4.8 Billion U.S. Orders

Chandrasekhar Atreya
17 Dec, 2010
New York City

Tokyo stocks stayed flat amid softer yen and debt worries from Europe. Nippon Sharyo and Sumitomo get railcar orders worth $4.8 billion from the United States. Smartphone sales expected to surge 190% this year. Japan expects to hike taxes on fossil fuel from next October.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo stocks stayed flat amid softer yen and debt worries from Europe. Nippon Sharyo and Sumitomo get railcar orders worth $4.8 billion from the United States. Smartphone sales expected to surge 190% this year. Japan expects to hike taxes on fossil fuel from next October.[/R]

Tokyo stocks moved without direction to close little changed as investors focused on the increase in U.S. home construction and rising debt yields in Europe. Spain completed the sale of $3.2 billion of 15-year bonds that yield 5.4%, 31% higher than the previous auction in October.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.07% or 7.46 points to close at 10,303.83 for the day but gained 0.9% for the week. The broader Topix closed unchanged at 0.1% to 903.14.

The yen close at 83.94 yen to a dollar and 111.60 yen to the euro in Tokyo today.

Domestic sales of autos in Japan are likely to fall 9.9% in 2011 from the current year, as demand is expected to fall after the expiry of governmental purchase subsidies for fuel-efficient cars, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said today.

The sales for 2011 are projected to total 4.46 million units, down from an estimated 4.95 million units this year, the association said.

Big manufacturers in Japan had no problems issuing commercial paper in December, according to the Commercial Paper diffusion index survey released today by the Bank of Japan.

The overall index, which is calculated by subtracting the percentage of all firms that say they can easily issue commercial papers from those that say they cannot, stood at 38, up four points from the previous such survey in September.

Shipments of smartphones in Japan is expected to surge 190% this year from a year ago to 6.75 million units, according to a forecast released on Thursday by the MM Research Institute. The estimate was revised 50% from 4.4 million as mobile carriers plan to release 20 models before next spring.

Nippon Sharyo Ltd and Sumitomo Corp said Thursday it secured an order for supply of 4.8 billion yen worth of commuter train cars for the United States.

Nippon Sharyo will supply 18 newly designed low-emission diesel powered cars to California’s Sonoma Marine Area Rail Transit from the factory to be built in the state of Illinois for assembling these cars from Japanese-made chassis.

Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akihiro Ohata said on Thursday that the country will gradually hike its taxes on fossil fuel use from October next year to finance initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The planned hike, which was approved by the Cabinet earlier in the day, will also likely reduce the consumption of oil, coal, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas and may impact the nations’ fragile economy.

Komatsu Ltd, a construction equipment maker, is selling more excavators in China than anticipated as the Chinese government spurs infrastructure development in its interior regions.

The number of units sold in this quarter is on pace to climb 25%, far exceeding the 15% estimate of the company, President Kunio Noji said.

Japanese copper smelting companies extended their talks with miners such as BHP Billiton Ltd for another month after failing to reach any agreement on refining and treatment charges for the year 2011.

Pan Pacific Copper Co will meet mining firms in January next after failing to reach a deal this month, Masanori Okada, President and CEO of JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corp said in an interview in Tokyo on Thursday.

Stock Movers

Sharp Corp gained 2.54% to 866 yen after the Nikkei Financial Daily reported that the company plans to open a new plant to build LCD panels for smartphones, mainly for Apple’s iPhone.

The banking sector extended gains in heavy trading and real estate stocks gained boosted by the Bank of Japan’s buying scheme.

Mitsubishi Estate gained 1.02% to 1,482 yen.

Mizuho Financial Group gained 2% to 153 yen while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group added 1.15% to close at 440 yen.

Pola Orbis Holdings rallied after investors turned to domestically-focused shares, after locking in gains in many key exporters. It added 0.65% to close at 1,705 yen.

Mitsui & Co lost 2.24% to 1,312 yen and Marubeni Corp lost 2.4% to 570 yen.