Nikkei in Japan Up 0 .9%; Softbank, OSG Rise; Sony in Focus

Nigel Thomas
07 Oct, 2011
New York City

World markets put their faith in the political voices in the euro zone but await concrete actions in recapitalizing banks. Sony Corp is close to acquiring its stake in the mobile phone venture with Ericsso. OSG Corp surged after net rose 44%. KDDI and Softbank gained.

[R]6:00 PM Tokyo – World markets put their faith in the political voices in the euro zone but await concrete actions in recapitalizing banks. Sony Corp is close to acquiring its stake in the mobile phone venture with Ericsson. OSG Corp surged after net rose 44%. KDDI and Softbank gained.[/R]

Stocks in Japan rebounded after positive talks from the euro zone. The market indexes gained in a cautious trading ahead of the jobs report scheduled to be released in the U.S.

The European political leaders offered vocal support in recapitalizing banks and the European Central Bank offered loans to struggling banks for as long as one year and left its key lending rate at 1.5%.

The slow moving political process, at least for now, has stabilized the markets but if actions are not followed with words the markets will go into tailspin again.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1% or 83.60 to 8,605.62 and the broader Topix index rose 4.69 to 741.55.

For the week, the Nikkei declined 1% and in the year the index is down 16%.

The yen edged lower to 76.69 from 76.85 against one dollar and traded near one-decade high against the euro to 102.06 from 102.14.

In trading, volume declined to 1.61 billion shares from 1.62 billion on Thursday on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Of the shares traded, 967 gained and 579 declined.

Stock Movers

OSG Corp soared 11.6% to 978 yen after the machine tools maker said net income increased 44% to 4.14 billion yen in the nine months ending in August on the rising exports. The company also said it will spend as much as 2.5 billion to acquire its shares.

Aeon Co increased 3 yen to 1,082 yen a day after after the retailer lifted its full year outlook. Fast Retailing decreased 0.7% to 13,400.

Ryohin Keikaku Co. plunged 10.3% to 3,845 yen after the retail chain operator said its net in the six months ending in August increased 27% to 4.22 billion yen.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company increased 9 yen to 220 yen, Tohoku Electric Power decreased 1.8% or 19 yen to 1,023 yen and the Kansai Electric Power fell 7 yen to 1,226 yen.

Mitsui OSK Lines, Ltd increased 3.4% to 275 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha closed up 2 yen at 143 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. added 1 yen to 190 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 2 yen to 328 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increased 12 yen to 2,081 yen.

Mitsubishi Corp increased 47 yen to 1,481 yen and Mitsui & Co gained 39 yen to 1,088 yen. Marubeni Corp increased 21 yen to 400 yen.

GS Yuasa soared 3% to 363 yen after the company plans to increase at its automotive battery joint venture to meet the higher demand. The stock soared after it traded at near 3-year low.

Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp soared 5.9% to 357 yen after the bearings maker said its net income I the nine months to August increased 86% to 7.11 billion yen.

Yonekyu Corp soared 8% to 634 yen after the meat processor said first half net increased 46% to 739 million yen. The company also plans to buy back as much as 6% of its outstanding stocks before the year-end.

Komatsu Ltd increased 49 yen to 1,539 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 51 yen to 1,368 yen.

Dai-ichi Life soared 2.3% to 79,900 yen as the European leaders struggle to contain the fallout from the deepening crisis in Greece and prevent it from spreading to Spain and Italy.

Toyota Motor increased 11 yen to 2,549 yen and Honda Motor Co. fell 6 yen to 2,224 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 15 yen to 701 yen.

Softbank Corp gained 6.5% to 2.456 yen after the rival mobile services provider KDDI launched its iPhone handset and data service that cost 500 yen per month more. KDDI also gained 1.4%.

Sony Corp fell 3.7% to 1,415 yen and the company arranged financing through the sovereign fund controlled by Abu Dhabi to purchase the UK based EMI. The company is also close to acquiring its stake in the mobile phone venture from LM Ericsson, according to sources in Stockholm and Tokyo.

Panasonic Corp fell 15 yen to 717 yen and Canon Inc closed down 50 yen to 3,480 yen. Sharp Corp increased 4 yen to 667 yen.

Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co. gained 6.5% to 528 yen and Tokyo Electron Ltd added 5.5% to 3,755 yen after semiconductor industry index gained to a recent high.

Olympus Corp added 58 yen to 2,416 yen. Fanuc Ltd increased 450 yen to 10,980 yen. Kyocera increased 140 yen to 6,700 yen.