Financials, Real Estate Developers Drive Nikkei to 3-month High

Nigel Thomas
20 Jan, 2012
New York City

Financials and real estate developers led the market advance as investors rotated sectors on rising trading volume. Exporters and electronics maker rose after positive earnings and economic data in the U.S.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Financials and real estate developers led the market advance as investors rotated sectors on rising trading volume. Exporters and electronics maker rose after positive earnings and economic data in the U.S.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher and banks were among the most actively traded stocks after Morgan Stanley and Bank of America reported higher than expected earnings and weekly U.S. jobless claims declined to the lowest level in four years.

Real estate and financial services companies led the gainers as investors rotated into larger names out of smaller companies.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1.5% to 8,766.36 and the broader Topix index increased 2% to 755.47. For the week, the Nikkei increased 3.1%.

Trading volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange increased to 2.6 billion shares from 2.31 billion shares on Thursday.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor increased 108 yen to 2,729 yen and Honda Motor Co. added 83 yen at 2,658 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 17 yen to 721 yen. Suzuki Motor Corp rose 45 yen to 1,669 yen.

Sony Corp increased 41 yen to 1,367 yen, Panasonic Corp rose 25 yen at 653 yen and Canon Inc closed up 80 yen to 3,430 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd increased 440 yen to 10,710 yen.

Olympus Corp closed flat at 1,199 yen and TDK Corp increased 115 yen to 3,645 yen.

Nikon Corp added 26 yen to 1,794 yen, Fanuc Ltd closed up 190 yen to 13,050 yen and Kyocera added 170 yen to 6,550 yen. Casio Computer Co., Ltd increased 19 yen to 459 yen.

Elpida Memory Inc added 4 yen to 345 yen, Ulvac, Inc added 61 yen to 1,058 yen and Renesas Electronics Corp increased 26 yen to 510 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd increased 7 yen to 273 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd added 4 yen to 134 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 6 yen to 187 yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc decreased 2 yen to 217 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. decreased 270 yen to 14,680 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd increased 6 yen to 372 yen.

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc closed up 48 yen to 1,501 yen and NKSJ Holdings Inc increased 68 yen to 1,563 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group added 17 yen to 350 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed up 98 yen at 2,373 yen.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 19 yen to 1,478 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp increased 5 yen to 313 yen.

Softbank Corp closed up 104 yen at 2,171 yen, KDDI increased 1.5% to 481,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed up 0.7% to 136,800 yen.

Kajima Corporation increased 7 yen to 259 yen and Obayashi Corp as unchanged at 366 yen. Japan Bridge dropped 18% to 840 yen after surging more than 250% in the month. Tobishima Corp declined 11% to 124 yen.