Tokyo Indexes Drop More Than 1.5%; Toshiba Wins U.S Metro Railcar Order

Chandrasekhar Atreya
21 Jan, 2011
New York City

Resource linked stocks in Tokyo led the indexes lower 1.5% today and 2.4% for the week. Transport Ministry plans to allot more slots to Chinese airlines at western Japan airports. Toshiba wins a 30 billion yen order to supply railcar parts to Washington D.C and Chicago metro.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Resource linked stocks in Tokyo led the indexes lower 1.5% today and 2.4% for the week. Transport Ministry plans to allot more slots to Chinese airlines at western Japan airports. Toshiba wins a 30 billion yen order to supply railcar parts to Washington D.C and Chicago metro.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo slumped in late trade as trading houses declined following drop in oil and metal prices.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 1.56% or 162.79 to 10,274.52 reversing an earlier gain of 0.2% while the broader Topix Index fell 1.8% to 910.85, the most this week since the week ended August 13. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 224.52 or 2.14% in the week.

The yen closed the day at 82.77 yen to a dollar and 112.13 yen to a euro in Tokyo today.

The budget gap for the fiscal year ending March 2021 could hit 23.2 trillion yen without additional economic reforms, a new government estimate showed today, which will likely bolster government’s view that tax hike is a must to plug the gap in public finances.

The estimate, included in a conservative scenario by the Cabinet Office, is at least a 1.5 trillion yen higher than a previous estimate made in June 2010, partly reflecting the impact of tax changes in municipal budgets, officials said.

The Transport Ministry unveiled plans on Thursday to expand landing and takeoff slots for Chinese airlines at two major airports in western Japan. The news came from a senior ministry official during a meeting with local officials to discuss merger plans for Kansai and Osaka International Airports.

All 189 slots allotted at Kansai International Airport and Central Japan International Airport to Chinese airlines, are already in use, and the ministry aims to provide more slots if it receives applications from Chinese carriers.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co and Mitsubishi Corp, each with a 25% stake in Indonesian energy firm Energi Mega Pratama Inc have started output of crude oil at a field off East Java.

Output was 6,000 barrels per day at the Pagerungan Utara oil field, located in the Kangean block.

Toshiba Corp said Thursday it received orders to supply railcar parts for transit systems in Washington D.C and Chicago. The orders estimated to total 30 billion yen, came from Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd and Nippon Sharyo Ltd.

Kawasaki won a contract in 2010 to supply railcars to the metro system of the U.S. capital while Nippon Sharyo secured a railcar order from a commuter train operator in Chicago. Toshiba will deliver motors, inverters, gears and other components to the two firms, starting in October.

Intel Corp will take a 7.7% stake in Toppan Printing Co subsidiary that is planning to start an e-book store. Through its global investment firm, Intel Capital, the U.S. firm will invest in Bitway Co, a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Toppan that now serves as an intermediate distributor of e-books.

Next Friday, Bitway will set up a wholly-owned unit called BookLive Co., to run the e-book store.

Sharp Corp said it has completed the construction of its joint venture solar power station with Italian power utility Enel SpA in Serraguimenta, Italy.

The new facility with a capacity to produce 5,000 kilowatt can generate enough power to supply 2,800 average homes.

Stock Movers

Of the total 225 members in the index, only 26 traded higher with 225 fell and 6 closed unchanged.

Mitsubishi Corp, the largest commodities trader of Japan, slumped 4.46% to 2,273 yen, while Inpex Corp fell 3.21% to 497,500 yen.

Fanuc Corp dropped 4.15% to 12,230 yen and Itochu Corp dropped 3.73% to 878 yen.

NEC Corp, the largest PC maker in Japan, rose 2.09% to 244 yen after a report in the Nikkei newspaper said that Lenovo Group Ltd may acquire a majority stake in the company’s PC unit.