Smaller Companies Index in Japan Plunges 12%, Retail Investors Exit

Hiruki Nakamura
26 Jun, 2013
New York City

Retail investors are losing appetite for stocks in Tokyo and smaller companies index plunged 12% and extended decline to 41% in a month. Topix and the Nikkei indexes also fell.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo – Retail investors are losing appetite for stocks in Tokyo and smaller companies index plunged 12% and extended decline to 41% in a month. Topix and the Nikkei indexes also fell.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower as investors rekindled worries about Chinese money market crunch.

In addition, retail investors sold stocks in smaller companies in Tokyo and the Mothers Index dropped 12% to 620.46.

Retail investors exited the market after a sharp correction of 19% in the last one month in the Topix and Nikkei indexes that track larger companies.

The Mothers index has dropped to the lowest since April 4 and has plunged 41% since its latest peak on May 14.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 81.91 or 0.6% to 12,887.43 and the Topix slid 9.38 to 1,069.29.

The yen closed in Tokyo trading at 97.72 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp gained 30 yen to 5,700 yen and Honda Motor Co. rose 15 yen to 3,495 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd dropped 12 yen to 972 yen.

Sony increased 28 yen to 2,001 yen. Canon Inc slid 5 yen to 3,185 yen and Nikon declined 33 yen to 2,284 yen.

Fanuc Corp plummet 230 yen to 13,800 yen Softbank Corp fell 10 yen to 5,420 yen after the shareholders of Sprint Nextel Corp voted in favor of takeover offer from SoftBank.

Seven & I Holdings Co lowered 5 yen to 3,420 yen. Fast Retailing Co. added 100 to 30,600 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 3 yen to 578 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increased 25 yen to 4,290 yen.

PeptiDream Inc. plunged 27.9% to 7,740 yen after the drugs maker terminated its research and development agreement with Pfizer Inc signed in December 2010.