Nikkei in Tokyo Gains; Itochu, Konami Earnings Rise, Sharp Plunges

Nigel Thomas
02 Feb, 2012
New York City

The benchmark Nikkei index extended gains for the third day as companies release earnings. Sharp Corp plunged its daily limit after it estimated larger than expected loss. Nomura and Itochu gained after reporting higher than expected net income.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – The benchmark Nikkei index extended gains for the third day as companies release earnings. Sharp Corp plunged its daily limit after it estimated larger than expected loss. Nomura and Itochu gained after reporting higher than expected net income.[/R]

The benchmark Nikkei index gained for the third day in a row as more companies release better than expected earnings.

Investors are surprised that the companies reported less than expected losses and some of them even reporting profits when the companies are battling supply chain problems and record high yen and the weak demand in the euro zone.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 67.03 or 0.8% to 8,876.82 and the broader Topix index increased 0.6% to 762.45.

Trading volume increased on Thursday increased to 2.25 billion from 2.15 billion on Wednesday.

The euro increased to 100.70 against the yen.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor increased 51 yen to 2,906 yen and Honda Motor Co. rose 48 yen at 2,722 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 6 yen to 734 yen. Suzuki Motor Corp rose 11 yen to 1,766 yen.

Sharp Corporation declined daily limit of 100 yen to 528 yen after it estimated annual loss of 290 billion yen in the year ending in March.

Sony Corp decreased 36 yen to 1,324 yen, Panasonic Corp fell 25 yen to 592 yen and Canon Inc closed up 10 yen to 3,280 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd increased 140 yen to 10,390 yen.

Olympus Corp closed down 2 yen at 1,265 yen and Fujifilm Holdings Corp rose 0.2% to 1,785 yen.

Nikon increased 10 yen 1,876 yen, Fanuc Ltd closed down 30 yen to 12,640 yen and Kyocera was flat at 6,540 yen.

Itochu Corp increased 3.38% to 856 yen after it estimated full year net to increase more than 17% to 280 billion yen on higher than expected domestic demand.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd increased 16 yen to 321 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed flat at 221 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 7 yen to 211 yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc increased 2 yen to 204 yen.

Konami Corp declined 3.6% to 1,944 yen after the video game developer said December quarter profit increased 26% to 10.7 billion yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 250 yen to 15,470 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed down 5 yen at 365 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group increased 9 yen to 368 yen after the investment bank reported nine month net profit increased 48% from a year ago and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed up 52 yen at 2,503 yen.

Nomura Holdings, Inc increased 7.1% to 300 yen and after the brokerage firm reported a small profit on the account of one-time gain related to a sale of the asset. Trading revenues in the period declined.

Komatsu Ltd decreased 10 yen to 2,137 yen, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 6 yen to 1,514 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp increased 1 yen to 328 yen.

Softbank Corp closed up 91 yen at 2,230 yen, KDDI Corp increased 1.2% to 490,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed down 1,200 yen to 136,500 yen.