Nikkei in Tokyo at June high; Softbank, Sony, Elpida Up

Nigel Thomas
22 Jun, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Japan rebounded after concerns over Greece eased for now. The Nikkei index inched above 9,600 and closed at the high for the month. Chain store retail sales declined 1.4% in May. Softbank is likely to reach an agreement with Alibaba Group over its payment gateway technology.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan rebounded after concerns over Greece eased for now. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average inched above 9,600 and closed at the high for the month. Chain store retail sales declined 1.4% in May. Softbank is likely to reach an agreement with Alibaba Group over its payment gateway technology.[/R]

The benchmark index Nikkei increased traded above 9,600 for the third time this month. Investors bid up stocks and the benchmark index rebounded to the high in the month after Greek government won the closely watched confidence vote.

Prime Minister George Papandreou survived the vote of confidence in parliament by 155 to 143. The vote paves the path for the clearance of austerity measures by July 3 and sets the process in motion for privatization.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1.8% or 169.77 to 9,629.43 and the broader Topix index added 1.6% 13.26 to 828.99. The Nikkei is down now 8% from March 10.

Tokyo trading volume fell to 1.91 billion shares from the 1.94 billion shares in the previous session. Of the stocks traded, 1,465 increased and 136 decreased.

The yen gained to 80.10 from 80.45 against one dollar and fell to 114.95 from 115.30 against one euro.

Stock Movers

Sony Corp increased 3.7% to 2,012 yen after a joint task force of UK and US arrested a 19-year old hacker that targeted the Websites of the U.S. Senate, Sony and CIA.

Utility stocks closed higher. Tokyo Electric Power Co. increased 0.3% to 306 yen, Hokuriku Electric Power added 0.5% but Chubu Electric fell 0.7%.

Retail store operators edged lower after supermarket sales declined 1.4% in May following a 1.3% decline in April according to the latest data from the Japan Chain Store Association.

Seven & I Holdings Co declined 0.8% to 2,175 yen.

Toshiba Corp increased 2.8% to 400 yen and Elpida Memory increased 4.3% to 960 yen after the companies developed thinnest memory chip that will allow smartphone and tablet-computer makers to develop thinner devised.

All Nippon Airways Co. increased 2.8% to 261 yen after the airline asked government to raise its fuel surcharge on international flights from Aug 1.

Futaba Industries Co gained 5.8% to 545 yen after it said in its mid-term business plan to set sales target of 420 billion yen and operating profit of 17.5 billion yen by March 2014. The company also estimated current year net to declined 22% to 2.6 billion yen.

Softbank Corp increased 4.4% to 2,985 yen after the company said it is in advanced stage of negotiations with Alibaba Group over Alipay.