Nikkei in Tokyo Gains 0.4%; Olympus, Tepco Rise

Nigel Thomas
10 Jan, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher on the first day of trading after a 3-day weekend. Resources linked stocks traded higher but banks and insurance stocks faced headwinds. The yen rose to a 11-year high against the euro.

[R]8:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo traded higher on the first day of trading after a 3-day weekend. Resources linked stocks traded higher but banks and insurance stocks faced headwinds. The yen rose to a 11-year high against the euro.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trading gained on the first day of trading after a long weekend following and resources linked companies gained. In the absence of economic news, market focused on domestic company developments.

The yen’s strength and the ongoing turmoil in the euro zone affected the trading sentient. In addition, Italy based UniCredit SpA struggled to attract investors to its rights offering at 40% discounts.

The European banks are required to raise 145 billion euros to meet revised capital guidelines but banks are finding it difficult to raise capital even at a discount of more than 40%. UniCredit offered to raise more than 7 billion euros at 40% discount to its current trading price.

The euro fell to 97.26 yen, the lowest since 2000 and declined to 16-month low against the dollar to $1.27.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.4% to 8,422.26 and the broader Topix index decreased 0.3% to 731.93.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor closed down 12 yen to 2,626 yen and Honda Motor Co. closed up 34 yen at 2,487 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd decreased 1 yen to 675 yen. Suzuki Motor Corp decreased 3 yen to 1,581 yen.

Sony Corp decreased 1 yen to 1,344 yen, Panasonic Corp fell 5 yen at 649 yen and Canon Inc closed down 50 yen to 3,315 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd decreased 90 yen to 10,540 yen and Nexon Co Ltd fell 25 yen to 1,150 yen.

Olympus Corp increased 210 yen to 1,263 yen on the speculation that the company is not expected to lose its listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the company plans to seek financial damages from 15 current and former executives in a legal claim.

Nikon Corp fell 17 yen to 1,699 yen, Fanuc Ltd closed up 150 yen to 11,890 yen and Kyocera rose 10 yen at 6,150 yen. Casio Computer Co., Ltd decreased 1 yen to 435 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc fell 22 yen to 309 yen, Ulvac, Inc rose 33 yen to 980 yen and Renesas Electronics Corp decreased 7 yen to 448 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd decreased 21 yen to 261 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed down 5 yen to 128 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. decreased 9 yen to 183 yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc soared 24% to 215 yen on the speculation that the government will acquire common stock in the company and not the preferred stock in the company.

Japan Bridge Corp soared 80 yen to 460 yen on the hopes of new highway construction spending from regional authorities.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 540 yen to 14,390 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd fell 1 yen to 367 yen.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc closed unchanged at 1,442 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc increased 18 yen to 1,521 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 1 yen to 332 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increased 4 yen to 2,192 yen. Mizuho Financial Group, Inc increased 1 yen to 109 yen.

Komatsu Ltd increased 22 yen to 1,847 yen.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 24 yen to 1,303 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp increased 5 yen to 288 yen.

Softbank Corp closed down 63 yen at 2,222 yen, KDDI increased 0.9% to 501,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed up 700 yen to 143,200 yen.