Nikkei in Tokyo Drops 1.4%; Meiji Plunges on Cesium Scare

Nigel Thomas
06 Dec, 2011
New York City

Stocks and indexes in Tokyo trading fell on the worries that the euro zone summit at the end of the week may not produce intended results. Meiji, the maker of powdered milk recalled 40,000 cans after a radioactive contamination scare.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks and indexes in Tokyo trading fell on the worries that the euro zone summit at the end of the week may not produce intended results. Meiji, the maker of powdered milk recalled 40,000 cans after a radioactive contamination scare.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trading dropped on the worries that the European Union leaders may struggle to contain the growing debt crisis.

Standard & Poor’s put 15 member nations of the euro zone on a credit watch and said if the 2-day summit later in the week fails to deliver it may cut rating by one to two notches.

The late action from the rating agency was welcomed by investors but generally the rating agencies are perceived to act too late and that stoked worries in the market that the euro zone nation may have deeper problems than widely understood.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average decreased 1.4% to 8,575.16 and the broader Topix index fell 1.4% to 738.01.

Trading volume on the main board of Tokyo Stock Exchange increased to 1.59 billion shares from 1.49 billion shares on Monday and decliners led the advancers by ten-to-one.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor decreased 57 yen to 2,606 yen and Honda Motor Co. added 2 yen to 2,462 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd fell 11 yen to 699 yen.

Sony Corp decreased 26 yen to 1,371 yen, Panasonic Corp fell 11 yen at 716 yen and Canon Inc closed flat at to 3,445 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd decreased 190 yen to 11,060 yen.

Olympus Corp increased 99 yen to 1,190 yen on the hopes that the company will appoint more independent directors.

Fanuc Ltd decreased 150 yen to 12,870 yen and Kyocera closed down 70 yen at 6,800 yen. Nikon Corp fell 18 yen to 1,777 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc fell 19 yen to 388 yen and Ulvac Inc dropped 54 yen to 1,062 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd fell 9 yen to 259 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd decreased 2 yen to 137 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. closed down 5 yen at 178 yen.

Daiichi Sankyo Ltd fell 5 yen to 1,461 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. decreased 0.8% to 12,950 yen after a day ago it reported better than expected same store sales in November.

Meiji dropped nearly 9.7% to 3,020 yen after Kyodo news said radioactive cesium was found in the company’s powdered milk. The company confirmed the report and said the cesium contamination is not a health risk but still recalled 40,000 cans.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc closed down 71 yen to 1,470 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc fell 52 yen to 1,529 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group closed down 1 yen at 344 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed unchanged at 2,212 yen.

Komatsu Ltd decreased 55 yen to 1,977 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co decreased 35 yen to 1,368 yen.

Softbank Corp decreased 61 yen to 2,381 yen, KDDI dropped 0.4% to 503,000 yen and
NTT DoCoMo, Inc fell 0.2% to 139,000 yen.