Japanese Current Account Falls 86%; Nikkei Down 0.7%

Nigel Thomas
12 Jan, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Japan declined and current account surplus narrowed in Japan by 86% on weak exports and lower energy demands. The Nikkei declined 0.7% ahead of the European rate decision. The yen traded near 11-year high against the euro.

[R]8:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan declined and current account surplus narrowed in Japan by 86% on weak exports and lower energy demands. The Nikkei declined 0.7% ahead of the European rate decision. The yen traded near 11-year high against the euro.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo traded lower after Japan reported current account surplus narrowed and the yen eased against the euro but traded near 11-year high.

Finance ministry said current account surplus narrowed 86% from a year ago to 138.5 billion yen. The decline in the surplus drove the yen lower to 97.77 yen against one euro from its high of 97.28 on Jan 9.

Investors also awaited the sovereign debt auction results from Spain and Italy and the rate decision from the European Central Bank. After the close, Spain raised twice the targeted amount in a debt auction and the yields tumbled full 1 percentage point. Italy also allotted full amount it intended to sell and the yield fell 50 basis points.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.7% to 8,385.59 and the broader Topix index decreased 0.9% to 727.15.

In trading, 1.39 billion shares changed hands, down from 1.67 billion on Wednesday and 1,209 shares declined and 340 increased.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor closed down 31 yen to 2,595 yen and Honda Motor Co. closed down 3 yen at 2,470 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd decreased 10 yen to 669 yen. Suzuki Motor Corp decreased 6 yen to 1,565 yen.

Sony Corp decreased 31 yen to 1,319 yen, Panasonic Corp fell 16 yen at 628 yen and Canon Inc closed down 30 yen to 3,255 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd increased 40 yen to 10,460 yen and Nexon Co Ltd fell 22 yen to 1,165 yen.

Olympus Corp increased 40 yen to 1,270 yen after media reports suggested that it may sell stocks in a private offering to Panasonic and Sony and bolster its balance sheet.

Nikon Corp fell 11 yen to 1,668 yen, Fanuc Ltd closed down 240 yen to 11,730 yen and Kyocera closed unchanged at 6,120 yen. Casio Computer Co., Ltd decreased 1 yen to 441 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc fell 5 yen to 308 yen, Ulvac, Inc rose 2 yen to 975 yen and Renesas Electronics Corp decreased 3 yen to 445 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd decreased 3 yen to 258 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed up 4 yen to 130 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 1 yen to 179 yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc increased 5 yen to 215 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. decreased 70 yen to 14,520 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd rose 1 yen to 366 yen.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc closed down 13 yen to 1,442 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc decreased 16 yen to 1,507 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 3 yen to 333 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increased 3 yen to 2,236 yen. Mizuho Financial Group, Inc decreased 2 yen to 108 yen.

Komatsu Ltd increased 22 yen to 1,847 yen after China reported slightly higher than expected inflation of 4.1% inflation.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 9 yen to 1,321 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp increased 2 yen to 294 yen.

Softbank Corp closed down 16 yen at 2,173 yen, KDDI decreased 0.6% to 493,500 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed down 1.6% to 139,600 yen.