Nikkei Faces Cyprus Headwinds, Kuroda Vows to Purchase More Bonds

Hiruki Nakamura
26 Mar, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo traded lower bucking the market advance in Shanghai and in Mumbai. Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda said he is prepared to add more government bonds with longer maturities and scrap self-imposed rule to limit asset purchase.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo traded lower bucking the market advance in Shanghai and in Mumbai. Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda said he is prepared to add more government bonds with longer maturities and scrap self-imposed rule to limit asset purchase.[/R]

Japanese stocks traded lower and the recently appointed Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda vowed in Parliament to scrap a rule to limit the purchase of assets and said he is prepared to buy more government bonds with longer maturities.

Investors were also unnerved after Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of powerful group of finance ministers in the euro zone, said Cyprus bailout should serve as a template to restructure nations with oversized banking industry.

The yen decreased 0.2% against the dollar and closed at 95.28 and declined 0.3% against the euro to close at 121.28.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 74.84 or 0.6% to 12,471.62 and the broader Topix Index fell 2.87 to 1,044.42.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slipped 10 yen to 4,910 yen and Honda Motor Co. slumped 35 yen to 3,640 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd decreased 18 yen to 927 yen. Yamaha Motor Co Ltd decreased 22 yen to 1,281 yen.

Nippon Steel fell 5 yen to 239 yen and JFE Holdings Inc declined 49 yen to 1,789 yen.

Sony dropped 46 yen to 1,666. Canon Inc slid 5 yen to 3,495 yen and Nikon slipped 43 yen to 2,249 yen. TDK Corp declined 60 yen to 3,365 yen.

NEC gained 4% to 253 yen after the company said it plans to sell its majority stake in NEC Mobiling for 70 billion to 80 billion yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd gained 30 yen to 10,410 yen.

Fanuc Corp. jumped 230 yen to 14,780 yen and Komatsu Ltd fell 29 yen to 2,306 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co dropped 52 yen to 2,049 yen.

Softbank Corp climbed 95 yen to 3,975 yen and the company said it will acquire additional stake in Gungho for as much as 25 billion yen on the popularity of its games for smartphones.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator rose 10 yen to 4,315 yen and Lawson increased 30 yen to 7,240 yen. Ito En Ltd jumped 36 yen to 2,180 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co closed unchanged at 3,035 yen. Fast Retailing Co. declined 550 yen to 30,150 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd slid 6 yen to 752 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 10 yen to 562 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group slipped 30 yen to 3,900 yen. Dai-Ichi Life down 0.7% to 125,300 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc fell 8 yen to 585 yen.