Nikkei Logs 5.1% Weekly Rise, Yen Trades Near 100

Hiruki Nakamura
12 Apr, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo rested and the Nikkei index extended gains by 5.1% in the week. Chiyoda Corp declined after Woodside Petroleum canceled its LNG export terminal project. Fast Retailing fell after Uniqlo reported a 16% fall in operating profit.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo rested and the Nikkei index extended gains by 5.1% in the week. Chiyoda Corp declined after Woodside Petroleum canceled its LNG export terminal project. Fast Retailing fell after Uniqlo reported a 16% fall in operating profit.[/R]

Stocks rested after a two-week recent leg up in a six-month rally as the yen hovered near 100 mark and investors look for the evidence that the monetary stimulus is working.

Stocks declined in a weak session as markets in Asia were subdued ahead of economic data scheduled to release from China on Monday and the indexes declined in India on weak outlook for outsourcing services export.

The yen traded at 99.74 against one dollar and inched towards the 100 yen level last seen in April 2009.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 64.02 or 0.5% to 13,485.14 and the broader Topix Index inched up 1.28 to 1,148.57.

For the week Nikkei 225 surged 5.1%.

Chiyoda Corp edged lower after Australia based Woodside Petroleum Ltd canceled a plan to build LNG export terminal at its $45 billion Western Australia project.

Electricity makers traded higher on a speculation that regulators will permit the resumption of nuclear power plants that were shut after the March 2011 disaster.

Stocks in Review

Nomura extended gains with 3.4% jump to 167% in the last four months and Dai-ichi Life Insurance soared 5.5%. Mitsui Fudosan climbed 4.1% and Mitsubishi Estate Co increased 3.7%.

Toyota Motor, Nissan and Honda recalled worldwide a total of 3.4 million vehicles to fix a faulty airbag made by Takata. Nearly, half the vehicles recalled are in the U.S.

Toyota Motor Corp rose 20 yen to 5,660 yen and Honda Motor Co. up 10 yen to 3,955 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd added 9 yen to 1,052 yen. Yamaha Motor Co Ltd fell 27 yen to 1,371 yen. Mitsubishi Motors Corp closed unchanged at 104 yen.

Takata, the maker of safety devices such as seatbelts and child seats slipped 33 yen to 1,786 yen.

Nippon Steel up 1 yen to 258 yen and JFE Holdings Inc increased 34 yen to 2,030 yen.

Sony slid 26 yen to 1,659. Canon Inc lowered 20 yen to 3,675 yen and Nikon rose 3 yen to 2,228 yen. TDK Corp slumped 45 yen to 3,315 yen. NEC added 3 yen to 263 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd declined 360 yen to 11,380 yen.

Fanuc Corp. plummeted 430 yen to 15,370 yen and Komatsu Ltd slipped 11 yen to 2,505 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co fell 9 yen to 2,246 yen.

Softbank Corp decreased 50 yen to 4,715 yen.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator dropped 75 yen to 4,105 yen and Lawson down 20 yen to 7,210 yen. Ito En Ltd gained 29 yen to 2,464 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co declined 160 yen or 4.2% to 3,625 yen. Fast Retailing Co. slipped 300 yen to 34,250 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd increased 13 yen to 789 yen.

Fast Retailing declined after it reported domestic chain Uniqlo reported operating profit declined 16% from a year ago to 29 billion yen. The retailer also left its full-year estimate unrevised despite the increase in March sales.

Aeon Co surged for the second day by 86 yen to 6.5% to 1,415 yen after the operator of shopping malls estimated net income in the current fiscal year ending in February 2014 to 75 billion yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 1 yen to 673 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group slid 30 yen to 4,665 yen. Dai-Ichi Life soared 5.5% to 135,300 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc gained 26 yen to 786 yen.

Marubeni Corp said it will form a joint venture with South Korea based SK Shipping Co to buy LNG carriers and lease them to Total SA, according to a report published by Nikkei.