Tokyo Movers: Canon, Fanuc, Nintendo, Nissan and Nomura

Nigel Thomas
26 Jul, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Japan rebounded after short sellers completed most of the selling earlier in the week. Nissan quarterly profit declined 15% and stronger yen took a bite from the earnings. Fanuc gained after it reaffirmed first half outlook. Nintendo reported narrower loss.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan rebounded after short sellers completed most of the selling earlier in the week. Nissan quarterly profit declined 15% and stronger yen took a bite from the earnings. Fanuc gained after it reaffirmed first half outlook. Nintendo reported narrower loss.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo rebounded and technology and banks led the gainers. Traders were cautious and considered the gains temporary as the yen strengthened.

Market watchers also highlighted the increased selling from short sellers that generally leads to a market rally in the next three weeks.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 77.20 or 0.9% to 8,443.10 and the broader Topix index increased 8.45 or 1.2% to 714.91.

The yen traded at 78.24 to a dollar and is expected to gain more in the next two weeks as the euro zone battles the widening of debt crisis and U.S. Federal Reserve considers third economic stimulus.

Stock Movers

Toyota Motor advanced 51 yen to 2,868 yen and Honda Motor Co. gained 33 yen to 2,395 yen.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 8 yen to 707 yen and the automaker reported June quarter operating profit declined 19.7% despite solid increase in unit sales outweighed by but rising costs of incentives and stronger yen.

Operating profit fell to 120.7 billion yen or $1.5 billion and net profit declined 15% to 72.3 billion yen from 85 billion yen a year ago. Nissan sold 1.2 million vehicles in the quarter, an increase of 15% from a year ago.

Canon Inc tumbled 7.8% to 2,470 yen after it cut its full fiscal year operating outlook to 390 billion yen or $5 billion.

Seiko Epson Corp gained 1% to 574 yen and Ricoh Co Ltd fell 0.6% to 499 yen.

Sony Corp advanced 43 yen or 4.9% to 913 yen and Panasonic Corp increased 13 yen to 495 yen. Toshiba added 3 yen to 245 yen. Nikon fell 3 yen to 2,105 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd increased 4.5% to 8,480 yen after the game console maker reported a narrower loss of 17.2 billion yen or $221 yen in the June quarter on stronger yen and product discounts. Sales declined 10% to 84.8 billion yen on price cuts for the 3DS. Nintendo also said that the company has stopped selling the 3DS machine at a loss as of this week.

Nintendo sold 1.86 million 3DS consoles worldwide in the quarter and software sales increased to 7.39 million units. Wii hardware sales were 710,000 and DS hardware sales were 540,000.

The game maker is scheduled to release its 3DS XL with larger screen on Saturday in Japan and Europe and on Aug 19 in the U.S.

Olympus Corp surged 123 yen or 9.6% to 1,400 yen after Terumo offered to invest 50 billion yen or $638 million and then work on a full-fledged merger. Toshiba gained 1.2% to 245 yen.

Fanuc Ltd soared 640 yen or 5.3% to 12,680 yen after it said its June quarter operating profit decreased 1.6% from a year ago quarter to 54.14 billion yen and retained its first half net outlook at 113 billion yen.

Komatsu Ltd advanced 73 yen or 4.5% to 1,693 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co surged 78 yen or 6.2% to 1,341 yen.

Yamada Denki gained 3.7% or 135 yen to 3,820 yen. Nitori Holdings Co closed down 0.8% to 7,440 yen, apparel retailer Shimamura slid 0.6% to 9,080 yen and Sagami Co rose 2 yen to 97 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 140 yen to 15,910 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd up 2 yen to 387 yen.

Kajima Corp added 3 yen to 213 yen and Taisei Corp rose 1 yen to 207 yen. Sekisui House Ltd closed unchanged at 742 yen and Daito Trust Construction Co Ltd down 0.1% to 7,650 yen.

Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd gained 11 yen to 269 yen and Mitsui Fudosan increased 32 yen to 1,448 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. advanced 56 yen to 1,859 yen.

Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc added 16 yen to 635 yen and Tokyo Electric Power fell 1 yen to 126 yen.

Inpex Corp rose 0.2% to 426,500 yen and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. gained 70 yen to 2,904 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd rose 5 yen to 227 yen; Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd increased 6 yen to 108 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. increased 4 yen to 165 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 15 yen to 368 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 72 yen to 2,440 yen.

Nomura Holdings, Inc soared 14 yen or 5.7% to 259 yen after the largest securities brokerage house in Japan reported a fall in profit. The net declined to 1.89 billion yen from 17.7 billion yen in the quarter a year ago.

Kenichi Watanabe, chief executive officer and Takumi Shibata, chief operating officer of Nomura resigned on the recent disclosures that employees participated in insider trading scandals at the largest securities firm in Japan.

The company recently confirmed that its employees had leaked information on at least three public offerings in 2010 to fund managers who profited from subsequent short selling of these stocks.

Tokio Marine added 4 yen to 1,728 yen and Mito Securities increased 4.7% to 135 yen.

Credit Saison Co Ltd gained 34 yen to 1,734 yen.

Nippon Steel rose 6 yen to 150 yen and JFE Holdings Inc increased 22 yen to 991 yen.