Nikkei in Tokyo Surges to 5-Week High; Seven & I, FamilyMart in Focus

Hiruki Nakamura
05 Jul, 2013
New York City

Market indexes in Tokyo soared the most in three weeks after the yen stayed low and central banks in Europe and England offered to keep interest rate low. Seven & I rose after the convenience chain operator reported 15% increase in net profit and FamilyMart reported 5.9% increase in operating profit.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo soared the most in three weeks after the yen stayed low and central banks in Europe and England offered to keep interest rate low. Seven & I rose after the convenience chain operator reported 15% increase in net profit and FamilyMart reported 5.9% increase in operating profit.[/R]

The weakness in yen and supporting comments from the European Central Bank and Bank of England lifted market sentiment in Tokyo.

The yen above 100-level to a dollar lifted hopes for corporate profits and the European Central Bank signaled low rates for the foreseeable future, signaling policy stance for the first time departing from a tradition of not discussing the central bank’s stance.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 291.04 or 2.1% to 14,309.97 and the Topix inched jumped 17.87 or 1.5% to 1,188.58. For the week, Nikkei 225 soared 4.6%.

The yen edged higher in Tokyo trading at 100.34 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp jumped 130 yen to 6,310 yen and Honda Motor Co. gained 45 yen to 3,840 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 20 yen to 1,056 yen.

Sony added 14 yen to 2,195 yen. Canon Inc climbed 55 yen to 3,375 yen and Nikon rose 44 yen to 2,346 yen.

Fanuc Corp advanced 240 yen to 14,770 yen and Softbank Corp jumped 170 yen to 5,880 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co increased 50 yen to 3,755 yen after the operator of convenience store chain reported first quarter net profit increased 14.9% from a year ago. FamilyMart Co declined 2% after it reported 7% increase in first quarter operating profit to 10.2 billion yen or $102 million.

Fast Retailing Co. soared 1,750 or 4.9% to 37,000 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group added 6 yen to 646 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 65 yen to 4,760 yen.

Shinsei Bank, Limited jumped 3.8% to 243 yen after in an interview, chief executive officer Shigeki Toma said the bank plans to increase consumer loans by 33% by 2016 and is looking to expand to other nations in Asia.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd the estimated operating profit for the three-month to June between 9.5 trillion won and 9.9 trillion won or $8.1 billion and $8.5 billion and sales to increase 18% to approx $50 billion.