Nikkei Advances in Choppy Trading, Daiei Plunges 9% on Aeon Offer

Hiruki Nakamura
27 Mar, 2013
New York City

Market indexes in Tokyo pared gains as stocks in the indexes traded ex-dividend. Real estate linked companies led the gainers on the hopes that the central bank will act soon to revive inflation. Aeon plans to raise its stake in retailed Daiei to 40% at lower than expected offer price.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo pared gains as stocks in the indexes traded ex-dividend. Real estate linked companies led the gainers on the hopes that the central bank will act soon to revive inflation. Aeon plans to raise its stake in retailed Daiei to 40% at lower than expected offer price.[/R]

In choppy trading, market indexes advanced in Tokyo following the gain in world markets and better than expected economic data in the U.S. and a progress in Cyprus bank bailout.

Stocks in Tokyo trading pared gains as most companies in the benchmark index traded ex-dividend.

The yen decreased 0.2% against the dollar and closed at 94.78.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 22.17 to 12,493.79 and the broader Topix Index edged up 2.05 to 1,046.47.

Stocks in Review

Daiei plunged 10% to 286 yen after Aeon is said to have offered to increase its stake in the retailer at 15% discount to the closing price on Tuesday, according to a report in the Nikkei newspaper today.

Aeon increased 6.3% to 1,226 yen.

Toyota Motor Corp rose 20 yen to 4,900 yen and Honda Motor Co. gained 39 yen to 3,660 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 8 yen to 922 yen. Yamaha Motor Co Ltd jumped 18 yen to 1,299 yen.

Nippon Steel added 4 yen to 242 yen and JFE Holdings Inc soared 80 yen or 4.5% to 1,854 yen.

Sony gained 22 yen to 1,675. Canon Inc rose 30 yen to 3,525 yen and Nikon slipped 14 yen to 2,235 yen. TDK Corp added 20 yen to 3,355 yen. NEC closed up 0.8% to 251 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd dropped 100 yen to 10,210 yen. Square Enix Holdings Co slumped 9% to 1,009 yen after the maker of computer games estimated loss of 13 billion yen in the current fiscal year from its previous estimate of 3.5 billion profit.

Fanuc Corp. added 32 yen to 14,740 yen and Komatsu Ltd closed unchanged at 2,282 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co rose 13 yen to 2,042 yen.

Softbank Corp surged 310 yen or 7.8 to 4,265 yen.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator up 10 yen to 4,325 yen and Lawson dropped 60 yen to 7,180 yen. Ito En Ltd climbed 80 yen to 2,260 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co jumped 50 yen to 3,085 yen. Fast Retailing Co. closed unchanged at 30,150 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd fell 5 yen to 747 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 8 yen to 564 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 30 yen to 3,880 yen. Dai-Ichi Life slid 0.08% to 123,600 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc rose 6 yen to 589 yen.