Nikkei at New 5-Year High as Dollar Crosses 100 Yen Level

Hiruki Nakamura
10 May, 2013
New York City

The Nikkei index in Tokyo surged as the yen weakened below 100, the closely watched hurdle. The Nikkei index surged more than 7% in the week and soared 40% in the year so far. Japan swung to a current account surplus in March. Nikon Corp and Mitsui Fudosan gained on earnings outlook.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – The Nikkei index in Tokyo surged as the yen weakened below 100, the closely watched hurdle. The Nikkei index surged more than 7% in the week and soared 40% in the year so far. Japan swung to a current account surplus in March. Nikon Corp and Mitsui Fudosan gained on earnings outlook.[/R]

Market indexes and stocks in Tokyo surged for the third day this week after the yen dropped below 101 and investors cheered Nikon’s earnings outlook.

Corporate Japan has been cautious and held its earnings outlook based on the dollar-yen rate at the level of 90, far lower than the current trend in the currency trading.

However, investors have been optimistic about corporate earnings outlook and are factoring the dollar-yen level closer to 100-level.

Also, the latest current account data also dragged the yen lower to 101.40 against a dollar.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 416.06 or 2.9% to 14,607.54 and the broader Topix Index jumped 28.77 or 2.4% to 1,210.60.

For the week Nikkei surged 5.2%.

The Ministry of Finance said today current account surplus in March increased to the highest level in a year to 1.25 trillion yen or $12.5 billion.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp soared 290 yen or 5% to 6,050 yen and Honda Motor Co. jumped 125 yen to 4,055 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd gained 31 yen to 1,063 yen.

Sony climbed 43 yen to 1,787. Canon Inc advanced 85 yen to 3,555 yen and Nikon surged 318 yen or 14.6% to 2,500 yen.

Sharp Cop extended gains second day by 6.4% after surging nearly 10% on Thursday after Asahi reported that the struggling TV maker is likely to eliminate 10% staff to restructure its unprofitable display business.

Sony Corp gained 2.5% on the weakness in yen and despite the company estimated lower than expected fiscal year net income of 50 billion yen compared to the average estimate of 65 billion yen among analysts.

Fanuc Corp. rose 70 yen to 15,890 yen Softbank Corp soared 340 yen or 6.5% to 5,570 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co jumped 150 yen or 4.1% to 3,840 yen. Fast Retailing Co. climbed 1,050 yen to 37,300 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 17 yen to 673 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group jumped 90 yen to 4,670 yen.

Mazda Motor Corporation surged 24 yen or 7.2% to 356 yen after the automaker said global net profit in the financial year ending in March swung to 34.3 billion yen or $339 million after reported losses in last four years, in last year reported loss was $1.07 billion.

In the last financial year, the company sold 1,053,262 units.

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. jumped 235 yen or 7.3% to 3,450 yen after the real estate developer forecast full-year profit of 2014 to grow 9.3% to 65 billion yen and expect to sell more apartments.

Nikon Corporation soared 318 yen or 14.6% to 2,500 yen after the camera maker said profit in the fourth quarter declined 19.3% and expects digital compact camera sales to drop in this fiscal year.

Camera maker lowered its sales expectation of digital compacts in this year to 14 million, decline of 18% from 17.14 million last year.