Construction, Semiconductor Stocks Lead Nikkei Advance

Nigel Thomas
19 Jan, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo traded gained on the strength in construction and resources sectors but traders were cautious ahead of bond offerings in the euro zone and talks between Greece and its lenders. Semiconductor equipment makers and exporters closed higher.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo traded gained on the strength in construction and resources sectors but traders were cautious ahead of bond offerings in the euro zone and talks between Greece and its lenders. Semiconductor equipment makers and exporters closed higher.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trading gained and the Nikkei index closed at a high in the last two months. Construction and building contractors led the gainers on the hopes of more government contracts to rebuild the earthquake stricken region.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1% to 8,639.68 and the broader Topix index increased 0.8% to 740.68.

The yen eased but traded near 11-year high against the euro at 98.04 and was stuck in the trading range at 76.78 to a dollar. The dollar is expected to trade near the current price level in the next six weeks but the yen is expected to trade higher against the euro.

Currency traders were also focused on the talks that the IMF may raise as much as $600 billion to make capital available to struggling euro zone nations.

Trading volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange decreased to 2.13 billion shares from 2.36 billion shares on Wednesday.

Investors are awaited the results of bond offerings in Spain and France. After the market closing in Tokyo, Spain raised €6.61 billion from the sale of bonds maturing in 4-, 7- and 10-years exceeding the maximum target of €4.5 billion.

Separately, France saw its borrowing costs decline at an auction of medium term debt maturing through 2016 on Thursday, reports said.

The Agence France Tresor raised €7.965 billion of medium-term bonds in total compared to its target between €6.5 billion and €8 billion.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor rose 37 yen to 2,521 yen and Honda Motor Co. added 12 yen at 2,575 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 10 yen to 704 yen. Suzuki Motor Corp rose 48 yen to 1,624 yen.

Sony Corp increased 22 yen to 1,326 yen, Panasonic Corp rose 8 yen at 628 yen and Canon Inc closed up 30 yen to 3,350 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd increased 180 yen to 10,270 yen.

Olympus Corp decreased 6 yen to 1,199 yen and TDK Corp increased 155 yen to 3,530 yen.

Nikon Corp added 41 yen to 1,768 yen, Fanuc Ltd closed up 390 yen to 12,860 yen and Kyocera added 120 yen to 6,380 yen. Casio Computer Co., Ltd increased 3 yen to 440 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc added 17 yen to 341 yen, Ulvac, Inc added 36 yen to 997 yen and Renesas Electronics Corp increased 27 yen to 484 yen.

Sumco soared 9% to 607 yen and Advantest Corp gained 7% to 753 yen after the Netherlands based semi conductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV estimated higher orders in the current quarter.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd increased 9 yen to 266 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd added 3 yen to 130 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 4 yen to 181 yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc decreased 2 yen to 219 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 230 yen to 14,980 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd increased 1 yen to 366 yen.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc closed up 21 yen to 1,453 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc increased 24 yen to 1,495 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group added 5 yen to 333 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed up 54 yen at 2,275 yen.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 40 yen to 1,459 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp increased 6 yen to 308 yen.

Softbank Corp closed down 8 yen at 2,067 yen, KDDI decreased 1.9% to 474,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed down 0.5% to 135,800 yen.

Kajima Corporation declined 6 yen to 252 yen and Obayashi Corp fell 4 yen to 366 yen.