Volatile Nikkei Jumps 1.8%, GPIF Reports 10% Annual Gain

Hiruki Nakamura
02 Jul, 2013
New York City

Volatile stocks in Tokyo advanced for the fourth day in a row after the yen declined and approached 100-level against a dollar. After the close, Government Pension Investment Fund said it earned 10% annual return in fiscal year to March. Fast Retailing same store sales surge 20% in June.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo – Volatile stocks in Tokyo advanced for the fourth day in a row after the yen declined and approached 100-level against a dollar. After the close, Government Pension Investment Fund said it earned 10% annual return in fiscal year to March. Fast Retailing same store sales surge 20% in June.[/R]

Japanese stocks advanced for the fourth day in a row and the yen edged lower to approach 100-mark against one dollar.

Japanese market indexes have traded with daily volatility of more than 3% since May 22 for more than 70% of trading sessions as investors reacted to weak international economic data and changing sentiment among retail investors.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 246.24 or 1.8% to 14,098.74 and the Topix jumped 21.14 to 1,171.84.

The yen weakened in Tokyo trading at 99.91 against one dollar.

GPIF Asset Returns 10%

After the close, Government Pension Investment Fund, the largest manager of retirement savings in the world, said weak yen and a surge in domestic stocks lifted its annual return a record 10.2% in the fiscal year ending in March.

The total increase in investment was 11.2 trillion yen in fiscal year driven by 3.76 trillion yen increase in foreign stocks and 3.33 trillion yen increase in domestic stocks. Investment in domestic bonds increased 2.13 trillion yen and in international debt rose 1.82 trillion yen.

Assets under management increased to 120.47 trillion yen at the end of March, up 6.85 trillion yen from a year ago, according to the fund.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp jumped 170 yen to 6,230 yen and Honda Motor Co. climbed 100 yen to 3,800 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd gained 29 yen to 1,045 yen.

Sony advanced 53 yen to 2,186 yen. Canon Inc up 120 yen to 3,360 yen and Nikon rose 29 yen to 2,300 yen.

Fanuc Corp gained 90 yen to 14,540 yen Softbank Corp added 80 yen to 5,900 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co increased 55 yen to 3,725 yen.

Fast Retailing Co. soared 1,400 or 4.1% to 35,300 yen after the retailer said same store sales in June climbed 20.5% from a year ago.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 8 yen to 639 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 20 yen to 4,700 yen.

Nintendo Co. slid 0.09% or 10 yen, Murata Manufacturing Co. jumped 3.4% or 260 yen and Nidec Corporation gained 1.2% or 80 yen and three companies plan to shift their trading venue from Osaka Securities Exchange to Tokyo Stock Exchange from July 16.

Sharp Corporation surged 10% to 436 yen after the electronic products maker plan to build 38 mega watt solar power plants in Hokkaido.