Nikkei Struggles Nearl Yearly Low; Nexon Down Again

Marcus Jacob
16 Dec, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Japan closed higher tracking rising markets in New York and in Europe. Commodities linked companies gained and banks closed mixed. Nexon, the online gaming company declined for the third day in a row after it completed the largest public offering in Japan and raised $1.2 billion.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan closed higher tracking rising markets in New York and in Europe. Commodities linked companies gained and banks closed mixed. Nexon, the online gaming company declined for the third day in a row after it completed the largest public offering in Japan and raised $1.2 billion.[/R]

Stocks in Japan gained after the U.S. weekly jobless claims declined to a 40-month low and wholesale inflation was in line with the Federal Reserve target range.

The yen traded lower against the yen but investors focused on the confidence vote in Italy and hope new measures to increase government revenues and increase growth will help the struggling nation in the euro zone and contain the widening debt contagion in the region.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.3% to 8,401.72 and the broader Topix index declined 0.2% to 723.56.

For the week, the Nikkei index declined 1.6% and the Topix fall 2%.

Trading volume on the main board of Tokyo Stock Exchange decreased to 1.48 billion shares from 1.54 billion shares on Thursday and of the shares traded, two stocks declined for every stock that closed higher.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor decreased 48 yen to 2,498 yen and Honda Motor Co. fell 29 yen to 2,261 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd declined 2 yen to 668 yen.

Sony Corp increased 15 yen to 1,360 yen, Panasonic Corp rose 9 yen at 683 yen and Canon Inc closed down 20 yen to 3,375 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd decreased 60 yen to 10,870 yen.

Nexon Co Ltd extended losses for the third day in a row and plunged 11.6% to 1,100 yen after the company completed the largest public offering in Japan this year.

However, other gaming companies stocks closed higher after Nomura made positive comments about the online gaming sector. Cyber Agent, Nomura’s top pick in the sector gained 4.2% to 248,300 yen.

Gree gained 0.5% to 2,500 yen and DeNA added 5.2% to 2,302 yen.

Olympus Corp decreased 273 yen to 1,041 yen after the company restated financial statements that reflected losses of $1.1 billion that had been hidden for more than thirteen years.

Fanuc Ltd closed up 160 yen to 12,230 yen and Kyocera closed up 200 yen at 6,330 yen. Nikon Corp increased 9 yen to 1,680 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc fell 20 yen to 384 yen and Ulvac, Inc fell 33 yen to 987 yen.

Fujifilm Holdings Corp declined 1.3% to 1,817 yen after the company agreed to acquire the maker of portable ultrasound devices maker SonoSite Inc for $754 million.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd rose 14 yen to 283 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed unchanged to 140 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 9 yen to 196 yen.

Daiichi Sankyo Ltd added 28 yen to 1,468 yen and Astellas Pharma Inc increased 30 yen to 3,070 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 420 yen to 13,360 yen.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc closed down 19 yen to 1,427 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc fell 10 yen to 1,501 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group closed unchanged at 329 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group decreased 24 yen to 2,190 yen.

Komatsu Ltd decreased 28 yen to 1,827 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co declined 1 yen to 1,297 yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Co increased 3 yen to 229 yen.

Softbank Corp rose 31 yen to 2,382 yen, KDDI rose 0.5% to 491,500 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc fell 0.5% to 135,500 yen.