Tokyo Investors Digest a Barrage of Earnings

Nigel Thomas
31 Jul, 2012
New York City

Japanese investors faced a barrage of earnings from 270 companies. Panasonic reported seven-fold increase in operating income and Mitsui O.S.K. guided first half operating profit. Mitsubishi Electric earnings were ahead of expectations and Horikuku net jumped 58%.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo – Japanese investors faced a barrage of earnings from 270 companies. Panasonic reported seven-fold increase in operating income and Mitsui O.S.K. guided first half operating profit. Mitsubishi Electric earnings were ahead of expectations and Horikuku net jumped 58%.[/R]

Stocks closed higher on the last day of the month after jobless rate decline in June and expectations ran high that the European Central Bank may begin buying bonds and stem rising interest rates.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 59.62 to 8,695.06 and the broader Topix index gained 4.57 to 736.31.

For the month, Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 3.5%

Investors also reacted to a mixed bag of earnings after Mitsubishi Electric Corp reported better than expected earnings and Renesas Electronics finalized loans from lenders. More than 270 companies were scheduled to release earnings today.

Stock Movers

Nippon gained 3.3% to 158 yen and JFE Holdings rose 0.9% to 1,039 yen and Kobe Steel added 1.4%.

Toyota Motor advanced 63 yen to 3,020 yen and Honda Motor Co. gained 52 yen to 2,551 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd added 9 yen to 744 yen.

Canon Inc soared 5.8% to 2,650 yen after it announced a stock buyback plan, Seiko Epson Corp surged 7.9% to 629 yen and Ricoh Co Ltd increased 2.7% to 541 yen.

Konica Minolta gained 1.4% to 558 yen.

Sony Corp increased 22 yen to 963 yen and Panasonic Corp advanced 24 yen to 546 yen. Toshiba gained 6 yen to 262 yen. Nikon added 37 yen to 2,184 yen.

After the close Panasonic reported seven-fold increase in operating profit as the company cut expenses and trim losses in its TV unit.

Nintendo Co. Ltd declined 0.8% to 8,730 yen and Fujitsu advanced 5% to 310 yen.

Fanuc Ltd plummeted 520 yen to 12,210 yen, Komatsu Ltd increased 27 yen to 1,758 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co gained 16 yen to 1,418 yen.

Yamada Denki fell 0.2% or 10 yen to 4,075 yen. Nitori Holdings Co closed lowered 0.7% to 7,320 yen, apparel retailer Shimamura rose 0.1% to 9,100 yen and Sagami Co closed unchanged at 102 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. increased 170 yen to 16,150 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed unchanged at 390 yen.

The social media site operator DeNA gained 3.9% after Facebook traded to a new low on Friday after it reported weaker than anticipated revenues.

Kajima Corp added 4 yen to 225 yen and Taisei Corp up 2 yen to 216 yen. Sekisui House Ltd fell 3 cent to 752 yen and Daito Trust Construction Co Ltd slipped 0.5% to 7,550 yen.

Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd increased 5 yen to 292 yen and Mitsui Fudosan gained 7 yen to 1,526 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. added 17 yen to 1,972 yen.

Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc soared 33 yen or 5.9% to 588 yen and Tokyo Electric Power surged 8 yen or 6.5% to 131 yen.

Chubu Electric Power Co declined 5.9% to a three decade low after it said that it may take another year before it can restart the nuclear reactor. The oil and gas powered utility operator also reported fiscal first quarter loss of 12.5 billion yen.

Horikuku Electric soared 15% to 799 yen after operating profit in the quarter to June soared 58% to 16.8 billion yen.

Inpex Corp increased 1.7% to 439,000 yen and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. gained 35 yen to 2,966 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd rose 5 yen to 239 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd soared 8 yen or 7.1% to 120 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. rose 2 yen to 175 yen.

Mitsui O.S.K. reported fiscal first quarter operating loss narrowed to 503 million yen from 8.6 billion yen a year ago. The container line operator also forecasted first half operating profit of 1 billion yen compared to earlier estimate of 1 billion yen loss on rising container freight rates and lower oil prices.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group slid 4 yen to 381 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group decreased 14 yen to 2,488 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc raised 4 yen to 278 yen.

Tokio Marine gained 21 yen to 1,812 yen and Mito Securities fell 0.7% to 146 yen.

Credit Saison Co Ltd rose 5 yen to 1,790 yen.