Nikkei Rebound in Tokyo Touch a New 4-Year High

Hiruki Nakamura
04 Mar, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher after the Bank of Japan chief nominee said he favors forceful monetary steps and he is prepared to accelerate asset purchase program as early as this year.Futures trade was suspended in the afternoon on technical problems.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo traded higher after the Bank of Japan chief nominee said he favors forceful monetary steps and he is prepared to accelerate asset purchase program as early as this year.[/R]

The benchmark Nikkei traded lower and rebounded in the afternoon to close higher after briefly reaching a new 4-year high. The broader Topix traded at 1,000 for the first time since 2010.

Investors bid up stocks and showed higher appetite for risk after the Bank of Japan Governor nominee Haruhiko Kuroda said he prefers sustained and forceful monetary approach to break deflationary forces in Japan.

At his confirmation hearing in parliament that he would not set upper limit to purchase bonds and would begin to purchase assets sooner than 2014 if he were nominated for the position.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average edged up 45.91 or 0.4% to 11,652.29 and the broader Topix Index gained 7.92 or 0.8% to 992.25.

The yen resumed its slide against the dollar and dropped 1% to 93.67.

Real estate and railroad companies traded higher after the market rally extended broader indexes and the Topix index jumped to as high as 1,000.

Stocks in Review

GS Yuasa Corp increased 7 yen to 403 yen and Japan Tobacco jumped 65 yen or 2.1% to 3,115 yen.

Toyota Motor Corp slid 5 yen to 4,745 yen and Honda Motor Co. gained 10 yen to 3,475 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd up 1 yen to 945 yen. Yamaha Motor Co Ltd added 2 yen to 1,100 yen.

Nippon Steel fell 1 yen to 251 yen and JFE Holdings Inc declined 67 yen to 1,945 yen.

Sony jumped 48 yen to 1,438. Canon Inc slipped 25 yen to 3,350 yen and Nikon declined 48 yen to 2,016 yen. TDK Corp increased 10 yen to 3,185 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd climbed 180 yen to 9,210 yen. Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co slipped 9 yen to 443 yen.

Fanuc Corp. declined 280 yen to 14,000 yen and Komatsu Ltd dropped 62 yen to 2,261 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co plummeted 73 yen to 2,012 yen.

Softbank Corp jumped 105 yen to 3,495 yen.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator gained 70 cents to 3,975 yen and Lawson increased 110 yen to 7,020 yen. Ito En Ltd advanced 21 yen to 1,933 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co jumped 34 yen to 2,795 yen. Fast Retailing Co. slipped 10 yen to 25,370 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd surged 36 yen or 6.6% to 585 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 8 yen to 531 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 65 yen to 3,835 yen. Dai-Ichi Life rose 0.4% to 130,800 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc added 4 yen to 554 yen.