Indexes in Tokyo Lose Momentum; Production Rises 2%

Nigel Thomas
29 Feb, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo lost most of the gains of the session and industrial production surged to the highest level in January since last March. Manufacturers expect output to continue to rise for the next two months. Elpida plunged 97%.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo lost most of the gains of the session and industrial production surged to the highest level in January since last March. Manufacturers expect output to continue to rise for the next two months. Elpida plunged 97%.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher at the opening and by mid-day two benchmark indexes advanced more than 1%. Market sentiment reversed in the afternoon trading and indexes closed nearly unchanged.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose a fraction to close at 9,723.24 and the broader Topix index fell 0.3% to 835.96.

Industrial production increased 2% in January from the previous month according to the Trade Ministry and the production is expected to rise in the current month as well.

Manufacturers expect the output to increase 1.7% in February and March.

Vehicles exports increased 4.1% in the month as manufacturers resume production and output surges to the highest level since the earthquake and tsunami last March.

Stock Movers

Elpida Memory Inc plunged 97% to 7 yen after the personal computer chip maker filed for a bankruptcy protection with $5.6 billion in debt.

Advantest Corp rebounded 2.3% to 1,146 yen and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd added 15 yen to 4,355 yen. Sumco Corp, the computer chip wafer maker increased 13 yen to 874 yen and Tokyo Electron Limited closed unchanged at 4510 yen.

Toyota Motor closed down 30 yen at 3,355 yen and Honda Motor Co. fell 20 yen to 3,095 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 4 yen to 832 yen.

Sony Corp decreased 36 yen to 1,737 yen, Panasonic Corp rose 11 yen to 759 yen and Canon Inc closed up 5 yen to 3,680 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd declined 260 yen to 12,090 yen.

Olympus Corp decreased 21 yen to 1,359 yen, Nikon increased 19 yen to 2,201 yen and Fanuc Ltd rose 130 yen to 14,730 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd closed down 4 yen to 370 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd declined 5 yen at 171 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. closed unchanged at 242 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. rose 110 yen to 16,830 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed up 14 yen to 410 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group decreased 2 yen to 420 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group declined 16 yen at 2,757 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc decreased 8 yen to 375 yen.

Komatsu Ltd increased 6 yen to 2,422 yen, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 5 yen to 1,699 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp closed down 1 yen at 354 yen.

Softbank Corp fell 14 yen at 2,421 yen, KDDI Corp closed down 0.4% to 516,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed up 700 yen to 138,800 yen.