Nikkei Extend 8-month Rally; Mazda Motor Soars 6%

Nigel Thomas
15 Mar, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher for the third day in a row and extended eight month high as the yen dropped to a 11-month low. Mazda Motor soared after its newly released sports utility vehicle exceeded monthly sales target.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed higher for the third day in a row and extended eight month high as the yen dropped to a 11-month low. Mazda Motor soared after its newly released sports utility vehicle exceeded monthly sales target.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo advanced for the third day in a row and the index closed above 10,000 as investors focused on international news and the yen weakened to 11-month low.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.7% to close at 10,123.28 and the broader Topix index increased 0.7% to 863.61.

The dollar traded at 84.18 yen and rose to a new 11-month high since April 13.

In trading on the main section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, turnover increased to $2.41 billion shares from 2.34 billion on Wednesday.

International investors added to their net positions in Japanese stocks for the eleventh week in a row.

The latest data released from the Ministry of Finance showed foreigners increase Japanese stocks holdings by 87 billion yen in the week through March 10 after adding 164.4 billion yen in the previous week.

Stock Movers

Sharp Corp dropped more than 5% or 28 yen to 503 yen after the company replaced its current president Mikio Katayama and named Takashi Okuda as new head.

Toyota Motor closed up 100 yen at 3,585 yen and Honda Motor Co. increased 110 yen to 3,295 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 15 yen to 888 yen.

Mazda Motor Corp gained more than 6% after the automaker said it attracted 8,000 orders in the first month for its recently released CX-5 sports utility vehicle compared to its monthly sales target of 1,000 units.

Sony Corp increased 32 yen to 1,822 yen, Panasonic Corp fell 2 yen to 756 yen and Canon Inc closed up 140 yen to 3,945 yen. Nintendo Co. Ltd soared 340 yen to 12,370 yen.

Olympus Corp was increased 13 yen to 1,313 yen, Nikon increased 38 yen to 2,443 yen and Fanuc Ltd surged 100 yen to 15,200 yen after positive comments from a foreign broker.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd increased 13 yen to 373 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd closed unchanged to 175 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. rose 7 yen to 252 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 50 yen to 17,910 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed down 1 yen to 434 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group unchanged to 433 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group unchanged to 2,865 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc rose 1 yen to 400 yen.

Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd unchanged to 352 yen and Mitsui Fudosan decreased 3 yen to 1,660 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. decreased 25 yen to 2,017 yen.

Nippon Chutetsukan KK soared 7% to 215 yen after the pipe infrastructure maker lifted its current fiscal year net income outlook by 45% to 580 million yen.

Komatsu Ltd rose 6 yen to 2,396 yen, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co fell 5 yen to 1,865 yen and Toyo Engineering Corp closed up 5 yen at 365 yen.

Nippon Steel unchanged to 239 yen and JFE Holdings Inc rose 0.7% or 13 yen to 1,814 yen.

Softbank Corp increased 53 yen to 2,464 yen, KDDI Corp closed unchanged to 548,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo, Inc closed up 100 yen to 141,200 yen.