Weaker Yen Lifts Nikkei in Tokyo to 7-week High

Hiruki Nakamura
16 Jul, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo gained after the yen declined and exporters led the advance. Investors shifted focus to quarterly profit and looked for profit improvement linked to weaker yen. Best Denki soared 14% on four-fold increase in earnings.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo gained after the yen declined and exporters led the advance. Investors shifted focus to quarterly profit and looked for profit improvement linked to weaker yen. Best Denki soared 14% on four-fold increase in earnings.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher as the yen dipped and exporters led the advance in market indexes.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 92.87 0.6% to 14,599.12 and the Topix up 8.55 to 1,210.54.

The yen edged lower in Tokyo trading to close at 100.07 against one dollar and exporters rebounded.

Tokyo Stock Exchange completed its merger with Osaka Securities Exchange and total number of listed companies on the combined exchange rose to 3,423. The first section on the exchange will have 38 additions to 1,760.

Nintendo Co, Murata Manufacturing Co and Nidec Corop are three of several companies that shifted main trading venue to Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp rose 50 yen to 6,460 yen and Honda Motor Co. up 5 yen to 3,810 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd increased 20 yen to 1,115 yen.

Sony gained 15 yen to 2,194 yen. Canon Inc jumped 90 yen to 3,460 yen and Nikon advanced 31 yen to 2,287 yen.

Fanuc Corp added 80 yen to 15,260 yen and Softbank Corp jumped 150 yen to 5,910 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co rose 35 yen to 3,965 yen and Fast Retailing Co. dropped 1,150 to 35,300 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 7 yen to 662 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group added 25 yen to 4,800 yen.

Best Denki Co., Ltd surged 14.3% to 208 yen after the electric appliances seller said net income in the quarter surged 23-fold to 542 million yen. The parent Yamada Denki decreased 2%.

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd gained 1.7% to 2,741 yen after the celebrating its 60th anniversary. The maker of Subaru automobiles maker is likely to post record quarterly operating profit of 70 billion yen on higher U.S. sales, according to Nikkei newspaper.

KLab Inc plunged 22% to 1,259 yen after the video game developer reported nine-month loss of 770 million yen.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. soared 13% to 768 yen on the hopes that the nuclear power plant utility may be permitted to restart plants after the 2011 nuclear meltdown.