Tokyo Stocks Halt 3-day Rally; Realty Developers, Machine Tool Makers Fall

Nigel Thomas
09 Feb, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Japan halted a three-day rally after China hiked rates and base metal prices declined. Toyota Motor Corp gained more than 5% after it lifted earnings outlook on Asia and emerging markets sales. Real estate developers fell after Tokyo office vacancy rose.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan halted a three-day rally after China hiked rates and base metal prices declined. Toyota Motor Corp gained more than 5% after it lifted earnings outlook on Asia and emerging markets sales. Real estate developers fell after Tokyo office vacancy rose.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower tracking losses in Asia and halted a three-day rally. Market indexes in China region and India, Indonesia and Singapore and Korea fell more than 1% after China hikes rates for the third time in five months.

Machine tools makers and real estate developers were leading the decliners in Tokyo trading today.

Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.2% to 10,617.83 and Topix index closed nearly unchanged at 944.02.

Yokogwa Electric dropped 11% to 663 yen after it canceled its dividend for the year and blamed the higher energy and operating costs.

Real estate companies fell sharply after the real estate broker Miki Shoji Co. estimated office vacancy rose to 9.04% in January from 8.91% in December.

Stock Movers

Mitsubishi Estate declined 1.8% to 1,610 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. dropped 2.8% to 2,015 yen. Mitsui Fudosan Co fell 2.4% to 1,665 yen.

Daikin Industries Ltd fell 3% to 2,840 yen after it said net income in the nine month period dropped 38% to 11.8 billion yen.

Toyota Motor Corp gained 5.2% to 3,560 yen after it lifted its annual outlook yesterday and said sales in Asia and emerging markets are ahead of expectations.

Separately, U.S. regulators said there is no link between electronics in Toyota made vehicles and sudden acceleration experienced by few drivers. The company is defending at least 400 lawsuits related to these incidents and have paid the largest fines paid by any automaker to the U.S. totaling as much as $49 million.

Nissan Motor Co gained 2.5% to 892 yen.

Machine tools makers were on the decline after China hiked rates. Komatsu Ltd declined 1.7% to 2,498 yen and Kubota Corp fell 1.8% to 883 yen.

China rate hikes also knocked off several exporters including Sony, Cannon and TDK Corp.