Sharp Rebound in Nikkei Leads Asian Markets

Hiruki Nakamura
25 Mar, 2013
New York City

The yen eased and the benchmark index rebounded after European regulators averted a brewing financial crisis linked to Cyprus that threatened to spill over in the currency union. Consumer finance, securities brokers and auto maker led the gainers.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – The yen eased and the benchmark index rebounded after European regulators averted a brewing financial crisis linked to Cyprus that threatened to spill over in the currency union. Consumer finance, securities brokers and auto maker led the gainers.[/R]

The late night agreement between Cyprus and European lenders averted a crisis that had a potential to spark a bank run in the euro zone.

Germany led the negotiations that paved the way for a revised agreement to impose a higher tax on uninsured depositors and cancel the previous plan to tax insured deposits up to 100,000 euro.

Of the 68 billion euros in deposits, 38 billion euros are held in accounts with more than 100,000 euro.

Cyprus will also close down its second largest bank and merge its deposits below 100,000 with Bank of Cyprus and lean heavily on the larger deposit account.

Cyprus still need to raise 5.8 billion euros as a part of 10 billion euro bailout and agreed to shrink its outsized banking industry compared to its economy. Cyprus banking system is eight times larger than its economy.

The yen decreased against the dollar and closed at 94.78.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 207.93 or 1.7% to 12,546.46 and the broader Topix Index gained 8.72 to 1,047.29.

Stocks in Review

Broadleaf, software developer plunged 213 yen or 14.4% to 1,267 yen a day after its initial public offering soared 37% on its first trading day on Friday.

Toyota Motor Corp increased 40 yen to 4,920 yen and Honda Motor Co. rose 5 yen to 3,675 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd slid 1 yen to 945 yen. Yamaha Motor Co Ltd slipped 7 yen to 1,303 yen.

Nippon Steel up 1 yen to 244 yen and JFE Holdings Inc added 1 yen to 1,838 yen.

Sony jumped 52 yen to 1,712. Canon Inc closed unchanged at 3,500 yen and Nikon gained 40 yen to 2,292 yen. TDK Corp advanced 65 yen to 3,425 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd closed unchanged at 10,380 yen.

Fanuc Corp. rose 40 yen to 14,550 yen and Komatsu Ltd up 37 yen to 2,335 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 24 yen to 2,101 yen.

Softbank Corp advanced 120 yen to 3,880 yen.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator increased 100 yen to 4,305 yen and Lawson jumped 130 yen to 7,210 yen. Ito En Ltd gained 51 yen to 2,144 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co climbed 83 to 3,035 yen. Fast Retailing Co. soared 1,370 yen or 4.7% to 30,700 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd surged 38 yen or 5.3% to 758 yen.

Seven & I extended gains for the second day in a row after Nikkei reported that the operator of convenience chain 7-Eleven may post operating profit of 296 billion yen, lower than the company estimate of 308 billion yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 9 yen to 572 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed unchanged at 3,930 yen. Dai-Ichi Life added 1.5% to 126,200 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc closed up 4 yen to 593 yen.