Tokyo Stocks Gain 2% in 6-day Rally; Softbank Surges 5.5%

Nigel Thomas
21 Feb, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Japan advanced as tensions in the Mideast rise and central bankers and finance ministers struggle to devise scorecard to prevent next financial crisis. Stocks in Tokyo rose for the sixth day in a row. Softbank led the gainers after its China social networking affiliate plan a listing.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan advanced as tensions in the Mideast rise and central bankers and finance ministers struggle to devise scorecard to prevent next financial crisis. Stocks in Tokyo rose for the sixth day in a row and climbed 2%. Softbank led the gainers after its China social networking affiliate plan a listing to raise $500 million.[/R]

Stocks in Japan rose higher as energy prices in Asian trading rose as the tensions in the Middle East spread to oil producing nations. Protesters in Libya demonstrated for the second week.

G-20 group of nations agreed to a broad of set of indicators to monitor and prevent the next financial crisis.

The indicators that track rising global imbalances and monitor investment flows will be used as an early warning system. The indicators include external debt, budget deficits and private savings rate but will not have current account surplus and foreign exchange reserves as China resisted their inclusions.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 0.1% to 10,857.53 and the broader Topix index rose 0.1% to 974.63. The benchmark indexes closed up for the sixth day in a row and stayed near 9-month high.

China, the largest export market for Japan, tightened bank reserves on Saturday to stem the loan growth and stem inflation.

Stock Movers

Energy related companies rose after crude oil futures increased. Inpex Corp added 1.7% to 596,000 and Japan Petroleum Exploration Corp increased 2.7% to 4,005 yen. Crude oil has increased 25% in the year so far.

Softbank increased 5.5% to 3,420 yen after the company’s China affiliate planned $500 million listing in the U.S. The stock was the most actively traded by value and Mizuho securities lifted the stock price target 45% to 4,230 yen.

Tokyo Electron Ltd decreased 2.1% to 5,540 yen after the book-to-bill ratio declined to 0.99, according to the data released by the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan.

Exporters were on the defensive after the yen edged up. Casio, Advantest and Hitachi edged lower.