Flat Nikkei at Close Scales Back from 7-Week Intra-Day High

Hiruki Nakamura
11 Sep, 2013
New York City

Market indexes in Tokyo closed nearly flat and the yen weakened. NTT DoCoMo announced its plan to offer popular iPhone gadgets from Sept 20 to halt market share slide. Retail investors stay focused on real estate companies.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo closed nearly flat and the yen weakened. NTT DoCoMo announced its plan to offer popular iPhone gadgets from Sept 20 to halt market share slide. Retail investors stay focused on real estate companies.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo barely closed higher after the Nikkei index jumped to a 7-week high before losing most of the day’s gains.

Markets in Asia and Japan retained positive bias after the U.S. President sounded less hostile tone in a public address and said he will consider a proposal by Russia to gain control of Syrian chemical weapons.

Market enthusiasm was supported by renewed retail investor interest after Tokyo was selected to host 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

The widely followed Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed nearly flat at 14,425.07 and during the day advanced to 14,561.46.

The broader Topix index eased 0.1% to close at 1,189.25 and in trading 3.44 billion shared changed hands.

Stocks in Review

NTT DoCoMo Inc declined 2.4% to 161,100 yen and the company followed up with a widely anticipated announcement that it will soon carry Apple made iPhone.

SoftBank increased 2.2% and KDDI advanced 2%. NTT DoCoMo had gained nearly 30% in the year.

Real estate and construction companies remained in focus after Tokyo was selected to host 2020 Olympic Games.

Mitsubishi Estate Co edged lower to close at 2,880 yen and said visits to its showroom for the 49-story Parkhouse Harumi Towers doubled to 60 on September 8 after the game decision was announced.