Nikkei Halts 7-Day Rally; Sharp, DeNa Gain; Jtek, Kawasaki Heavy Fall

Nigel Thomas
24 Oct, 2012
New York City

The benchmark Nikkei index declined for the first time in eight days and halted the longest rally in 26 months. Sharp Corp gained 6% after the company began selling smartphone in China. Jtek and Kawasaki Heavy declined after companies missed their estimates.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo – The benchmark Nikkei index declined for the first time in eight days and halted the longest rally in 26 months. Sharp Corp gained 6% after the company began selling smartphone in China. Jtek and Kawasaki Heavy declined after companies missed their estimates.[/R]

The benchmark Nikkei index halted the longest 7-day rally in 26 months after investors took profits.

The market sentiment was positive at the opening after a private survey of Chinese output showed a 3-month high in October and business orders were strongest since April but the growth continued to decline.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped 59.95 or 0.7% to 8,954.30 and the broader Topix Index slid 4.35 to 749.37.

The yen weakened against the dollar to 80.02 from 79.65 in Monday’s closing.

The social networking sites operators DeNa and Gree jumped more than 3% after Facebook reported three-fold increase in mobile ads in the latest quarterly report.

After the close, investors are looking ahead to earnings from Yahoo Japan, Nintendo, JFE Holdings, Nintendo Co Ltd and KDDI Corp.

Stocks in Review

Sharp Corp gained 6.4% after the media reports that the company began selling smart phone in China and plans to sell as many as 10 million units in the next two to three years.

Mitsubishi Corp closed unchanged at 1,391 yen and a day ago the company lowered its annual profit outlook by 34% and cut its planned dividend.

Japan Airlines Co Ltd gained 0.6% to 3,845 yen and All Nippon Airways gained 1.3% after the Nikkei business daily reported that the airline was expected to report an operating profit of 70 billion yen or $875 million for the six month period ending in September.

Japan Tobacco added 0.4% to 2,318 yen.

Kawasaki Heavy dropped 5.7% to 166 yen after the company said in a preliminary earnings report that operating profit fell to 10.3 billion yen or $129 million in the six months to September, missing the company target by 49%.

Jtek Corp dropped 5.8% to 636 yen after the auto parts maker net income declined to 4.5 billion yen for the six months to September 55% below its target and the company blamed foreign exchange losses and lower demand in Europe.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd slipped 2 yen to 195 yen and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd lowered 2 yen to 99 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. down 3 yen to 148 yen.

Toyota Motor slumped 50 yen to 3,095 yen and Honda Motor Co. declined 57 yen to 2,555 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd slipped 12 yen to 690 yen.

Nippon Steel dropped 6 yen to 167 yen and JFE Holdings Inc added 1 yen to 1,079 yen. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing slumped 12 yen to 254 yen.

TDK slipped 15 yen to 3,000 yen, Murata Manufacturing Co closed unchanged at 4,025 yen and Meiko Electronics Co Ltd added 0.2% or 633 yen.

Canon Inc plummeted 26 yen to 2,587 yen and Seiko Epson Corp decreased 18 yen to 469 yen and Ricoh Co Ltd slipped 18 yen to 742 yen after the U.S. rival and maker of printer and copiers reported lower than expected revenues and cut its full-year earnings estimate.

Sony Corp dropped 10 yen to 969.

Panasonic Corp slumped 9 yen to 514 yen and Nikon slid 1 yen to 2,043 yen and Toshiba Corp, lowered 2 yen to 283 yen.

Olympus Corp. increased 0.6% to 1,395 yen, Nintendo Co. Ltd declined 160 yen to 10,310 yen, Fujitsu down 5 yen to 305 yen and Pioneer Corp. slipped 3 yen to 191 yen. Sharp Corp surged 10 yen or 6.4% to 167 yen.

Fanuc Corp. dropped 160 yen to 13,040 yen and Komatsu Ltd slumped 43 yen to 1,660 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co declined 27 yen to 1,338 yen.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator climbed 70 yen to 3,810 yen and Lawson advanced 60 yen to 5,880 yen. Ito En Ltd gained 10 yen to 1,550 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co jumped 28 yen to 2,491 yen.

Yamada Denki increased 50 yen to 3,220 yen. Nitori Holdings Co dropped 130 yen to 6,420 yen, apparel retailer Shimamura climbed 70 yen to 8,250 yen and Sagami Co slipped 4 yen to 117 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. advanced 100 yen to 17,400 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd closed unchanged at 411 yen.

Credit Saison Co Ltd slumped 8 yen to 1,772 yen.

Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd lowered 7 yen to 337 yen and Mitsui Fudosan decreased 6 yen to 1,639 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. slipped 7 yen to 2,201 yen.

Inpex Corp declined 2.1% to 468,500 yen and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. declined 50 yen to 3,435 yen. Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. slid 2 yen to 130 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group slid 4 yen to 365 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group dropped 32 yen to 2,418 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc decreased 6 yen to 285 yen.