Nikkei Extends Gains to Third Day, Mitsubishi Motors Soars 11%

Hiruki Nakamura
17 Jul, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher for the third day in a row and investors looked ahead to elections on Sunday. Ruling coalition is expected to win a majority in the upper house of the parliament. Mitsubishi Motors soared 11%.

[R]4:45 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed higher for the third day in a row and investors looked ahead to elections on Sunday. Ruling coalition is expected to win a majority in the upper house of the parliament. Mitsubishi Motors soared 11%.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed up for the third day in a row after a volatile day of trading and exporters in focus ahead of earnings season.

Investors generally took wait and see approach ahead of elections scheduled on July 21 for the upper house. The upper house is controlled by the opposition and the ruling coalition of LDP and Komeito is expected to win a majority with at least 64 seats in the election.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put structural changes on hold till the elections are over and legislation for the fundament changes are likely to be passed only after the election.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 15.92 to 14,615.04 and the Topix edged up 2.70 to 1,213.24.

The yen edged higher in Tokyo trading to close at 99.17 against one dollar and exporters rebounded.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp gained 40 yen to 6,500 yen and Honda Motor Co. rose 35 yen to 3,845 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd added 4 yen to 1,119 yen.

Sony closed unchanged at 2,194 yen. Canon Inc dropped 50 yen to 3,410 yen and Nikon slid 9 yen to 2,278 yen.

Fanuc Corp slumped 200 yen to 15,060 yen and Softbank Corp soared 290 yen or 4.9% to 6,200 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co fell 25 yen to 3,940 yen and Fast Retailing Co. jumped 550 to 35,850 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group closed unchanged at 662 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed unchanged at 4,800 yen.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. China based e-commerce company said sales in the first quarter ending in June soared 71% to $1.4 billion and net income surged three-fold to $669 million compared to $220 million a year ago.

Furuno Electric Co., Ltd plunged 9.8% to 749 yen after the marine electronic products maker lowered its earnings outlook for the year.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation soared 11.1% to 160 yen after Nikkei reported the car maker is likely to pay 30% to 40% of the profit to its shareholders for the year ending in March. The automaker is likely to pay as much as 10 yen in dividend.