Nikkei Rises 0.9%, Elpida Files Bankruptcy

Marcus Jacob
28 Feb, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo trading closed higher reversing earlier losses in the day after the largest PC chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc filed for a bankruptcy protection with $5.6 billion in debt. Shipping companies declined for the second day in a row.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo trading closed higher reversing earlier losses in the day after the largest PC chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc filed for a bankruptcy protection with $5.6 billion in debt. Shipping companies declined for the second day in a row.[/R]

Stocks in Japan closed higher and the yen advanced but traded near a 10-month low. The benchmark index has gained 15% in the year so far and is one of the best performing market in the world.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.9% to 9,722.52 and the broader Topix index added 0.4% to 838.48.

The yen recovered from a 10-month low to 80.02 against a dollar and gained to 107.19 against the euro.

In trading on the main board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, 2.51 billion shares changed hands compared to 2.49 billion on Monday.

Stock Movers

Elpida Memory Inc plunged 24% to 254 yen after the personal computer chip maker filed for a bankruptcy protection with $5.6 billion in debt. The largest bankruptcy by a Japanese manufacturer also sparked a wave of sell-off in chip makers.

Advantest Corp fell 1.5% to 1,120 yen and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd declined 1.3% to 4,340 yen.

Toyota Motor closed up 5 yen at 3,385 yen and Honda Motor Co. fell 25 yen to 3,115 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd decreased 9 yen to 828 yen.

Sony Corp increased 13 yen to 1,773 yen, Panasonic Corp fell 3 yen to 748 yen and Canon Inc closed down 5 yen to 3,675 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd declined 300 yen to 12,350 yen.

Olympus Corp increased 7 yen to 1,380 yen, Nikon increased 41 yen to 2,182 yen, Fanuc Ltd rose 280 yen to 14,600 yen and Kyocera added 160 yen at 7,060 yen.

Shipping companies were among the leading decliners today after Denmark based A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S warned that 2012 earnings will be lower than expected on weakness in its container business.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd closed down 4 yen to 374 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd declined 5 yen at 176 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. eased 6 yen to 242 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. rose 340 yen to 16,720 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed up 4 yen to 396 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group increased 2 yen to 422 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group added 17 yen at 2,773 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc increased 5 yen to 383 yen.

Komatsu Ltd increased 3 yen to 2,428 yen, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co decreased 9 yen to 1,694 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp closed down 2 yen at 355 yen.

Softbank Corp added 76 yen at 2,435 yen, KDDI Corp closed up 2.2% to 518,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed up 300 yen to 138,100 yen.