Nikkei Jumps 1.6%; Uny Proposes Circle K Buyout

Nigel Thomas
17 Feb, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher and extended rally in the benchmark indexes to double digits in the year. The Nikkei index gained 1.6% today and closed up 11% in the year. Uny offered to acquire the rest of Circle K Sunkus Co shares for nearly $1 billion.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed higher and extended rally in the benchmark indexes to double digits in the year. The Nikkei index gained 1.6% today and closed up 11% in the year. Uny offered to acquire the rest of Circle K Sunkus Co shares for nearly $1 billion.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trading gained extended the advance in the benchmark indexes Nikkei and Topix in the double digits in the year.

Investors bid up stocks after Uny Co. Ltd offered to acquire Circle K Sunkus Co at a premium and the decline in the yen prompted exporters to advance.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 1.6% to 9,384.17 and the broader Topix index added 1.3% to 810.45. For the year so far, the Nikkei increased 11% and led the market indexes around the world.

In stock trading, 2.61 billion shares changed hands on the main board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, down from 2.46 billion shares trading on Thursday.

The yen traded at 77.87 against one dollar.

Stock Movers

Uny Co., Ltd soared 6.6% to 747 yen after the company offered to acquire Circle K Sunkus Co. for 1,780 pence a share. Circle K Sunkus Co Ltd soared daily limit of 300 yen or 22.6% to 1,630 yen.

Uny currently own 47.28% of Circle K and said the deal to acquire the rest of shares would be worth 76.5 billion yen or $980 million.

Trend Micro dropped 8.8% or 221 yen to 2,278 yen after the security software maker estimated 32% decline in net income in the current quarter on 6.2% fall in revenues.

Toyota Motor closed up at 3,285 yen and Honda Motor Co. added 68 yen to 2,950 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 16 yen to 793 yen.

Sony Corp increased 34 yen to 1,623 yen, Panasonic Corp rose 25 yen to 707 yen and Canon Inc closed up 15 yen to 3,550 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd surged 1.8% 11,630 yen.

Bridgestone Corp increased 4% or 70 yen to 1,833 yen after the tiremaker estimated annual net income to March increased 63% to 168 billion yen.

Olympus Corp closed decreased 14 yen at 1,259 yen after seven former executives at the company were arrested a day ago.

Nikon increased 79 yen or 3.9% to 2,127 yen, Fanuc Ltd added 390 yen to 14,250 yen and Kyocera rose 110 yen at 6,940 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd closed down 5 yen to 348 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed down 1 yen at 177 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. closed down 4 yen to 234 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 470 yen to 16,440 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed down 1 yen to 376 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group increased 5 yen to 406 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 15 yen at 2,682 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc increased 11 yen to 345 yen.

Komatsu Ltd increased 72 yen to 2,252 yen, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 42 yen to 1,619 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp rose 6 yen at 328 yen.

Softbank Corp rose 38 yen at 2,424 yen, KDDI Corp closed up 0.2% to 517,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed up 0.2% to 137,000 yen.