Japan and India Agree on $15 Billion Swap Line

Nigel Thomas
29 Dec, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo edged lower in thin trading and resources linked stocks led the decliners. Japan agreed to offer swap line to India of $15 billion and agreed to lend $5 billion for a rail line.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo edged lower in thin trading and resources linked stocks led the decliners. Japan agreed to offer swap line to India of $15 billion and agreed to lend $5 billion for a rail line.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trading edged lower in thin trading as resources linked stocks led the decline. Banks and automakers closed mixed and traders awaited the results of the last debt auction in Italy.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.2% to 8,423.62 and the broader Topix index decreased 0.4% to 721.45. For the year, the Nikkei index declined

After the close in Tokyo, Italy completed the sale last auction in the year and the yield on 10-year bond declined but rebounded after the auction.

Italy sold €7.02 billion of long term debt at an auction today, less than its maximum target of €9 billion in the final sale for this year.

However the stress in the bond market was evident as the yield declined from the peak of 7.56% in the last auction in November. The long term outlook for Italy is still uncertain and political parties are still struggling to develop economic plans that will accommodate the higher yield and stimulate long term growth.

The governments of Japan and India agreed on a $15 billion swap line for three years to buttress their economies against the rising tensions in the euro zone and help arrest the decline in rupee.

The latest swap line replaces the arrangement that expired in summer and is a second arrangement that Japan set up with Korea of a swap line of $70 billion.

Separately, Japan also agreed to lend 450 billion yen to India to build freight rail line between Delhi and the industrial and financial center Mumbai.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor rose 3 yen to 2,530 yen and Honda Motor Co. closed down 19 yen to 2,324 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 6 yen to 692 yen.

Sony Corp increased 1 yen to 1,355 yen, Panasonic Corp rose 2 yen at 644 yen and Canon Inc closed down 15 yen to 3,400 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd decreased 30 yen to 10,530 yen and Nexon Co Ltd fell 15 yen to 1,107 yen.

Olympus Corp increased 51 yen to 1,005 yen and Nitto Denko Co. dropped 1% to 2,760 yen.

Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp increased 8 yen to 337 yen after the maker of machine tools and robotic devices may report sharply higher earnings on strong sales in China, according to a Nikkei newspaper report.

Fanuc Ltd closed down 60 yen to 11,810 yen and Kyocera fell 20 yen at 6,140 yen. Nikon Corp decreased 5 yen to 1,687 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc fell 19 yen to 351 yen and Ulvac, Inc rose 15 yen to 944 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd increased 2 yen to 295 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed down 1 yen to 140 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 2 yen to 197 yen.

Daiichi Sankyo Ltd increased 6 yen to 1,528 yen and Astellas Pharma Inc closed up 20 yen at 3,105 yen.

Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp increased 130 yen to 3,975 yen after the drug store retailer lifted its annual net income outlook 16% to 6.81 billion yen on better than expected sales.

Fast Retailing Co. decreased 90 yen to 13,840 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd fell 3 yen to 365 yen.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc inclined 9 yen to 1,417 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc rose 21 yen to 1,508 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group closed unchanged 323 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increased 6 yen to 2,124 yen.

J. Trust Co soared 11% to 556 yen after the company was selected to acquire Takefuji Corp after its Korea based bidder A&P Financial Co failed to meet buyout agreement terms.

Komatsu Ltd increased 13 yen to 1,804 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 27 yen to 1,301 yen.

Softbank Corp closed down 28 yen at 2,275 yen, KDDI declined 1.3% to 493,500 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc rose 100 yen to 140,000 yen.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp increased 13 yen to 724 yen after company’s president Kenichiro Yamanishi estimated record operating profit in the current fiscal year according to a report in the Nikkei newspaper.

Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp increased 8 yen to 337 yen after the maker of machine tools and robotic devices may report sharply higher earnings on strong sales in China, according to a Nikkei newspaper report.