Nikkei Pares Gains; BoJ Offers Dollar Loans

Nigel Thomas
13 Mar, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo trading trimmed gains after the central bank left its asset purchase program intact and offered loans in the U.S. dollars denomination. Auto headlights makers declined on the price fixing investigation.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo trading trimmed gains after the central bank left its asset purchase program intact and offered loans in the U.S. dollars denomination. Auto headlights makers declined on the price fixing investigation.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trimmed gains after Bank of Japan left its asset purchase program intact but offered a new loan program in the U.S. dollars. Auto headlights makers slumped.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.1% to close at 9,899.08 and the broader Topix index increased 0.1% to 845.33.

The dollar was unchanged at 82.14 yen and rose above a 9-month high of 81.66 yen and traded at 108.21 against the euro.

In trading, turnover on the main board of Tokyo Stock Exchange increased to 2.76 billion shares from 2.26 billion shares on Monday.

The central bank left its asset purchase program unchanged at 30 trillion yen or $360 billion and a loan program at 35 trillion yen.

In addition, the Bank of Japan offered 1 trillion yen of loans denominated in the U.S. dollars and expanded its investment fund by 500 billion yen to 3 trillion yen but kept its overall asset purchase program unchanged.

Stock Movers

Asahi Kasei Corporation decreased 28 yen to 490 yen after the company made an offer to acquire medical devices maker Zoll Medical Corp 100 billion yen or $2.2 billion, or at 24% premium from the Friday’s closing price in New York.

Toyota Motor closed up 10 yen at 3,415 yen and Honda Motor Co. was unchanged to 3,100 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd decreased 2 yen to 841 yen.

Four headlights makers for automobiles declined after Japan’s Fair Trade Commission began investigation for price fixing.

Stanley Electric Co. dropped 9% to 1,271 yen, Mitsuba Corp fell 6.3% to 770 yen and Koito Manufacturing Co. declined 6.9% to 1,341 yen. Ichikoh Industries Ltd eased 4% to 158 yen.

Sony Corp decreased 13 yen to 1,702 yen, Panasonic Corp increased 9 yen to 749 yen and Canon Inc closed down 25 yen to 3,680 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd decreased 60 yen to 11,480 yen.

Olympus Corp increased 3 yen to 1,300 yen, Nikon decreased 14 yen to 2,336 yen and Fanuc Ltd increased 110 yen to 14,750 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd unchanged to 355 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed down 3 yen to 172 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. fell 1 yen to 239 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. soared 200 yen to 17,780 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed up 6 yen to 435 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group increased 3 yen to 422 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increased 31 yen to 2,794 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc rose 2 yen to 386 yen.

Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd fell 1 yen to 338 yen and Mitsui Fudosan gained 40 yen to 1,617 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. increased 16 yen to 1,973 yen.

Komatsu Ltd decreased 10 yen to 2,310 yen, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 21 yen to 1,802 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp closed down 5 yen at 352 yen.

Steel makers traded higher. Nippon Steel rose 0.4% to 233 yen and JFE Holdings Inc increased 0.8% or 14 yen to 1,697 yen.

Softbank Corp increased 6 yen to 2,393 yen, KDDI Corp closed up 1.5% to 540,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed down 300 yen to 141,000 yen.