Japanese Machinery Orders Fall; Pioneer, Seiko Soar

Hiruki Nakamura
13 Nov, 2013
New York City

Market indexes in Tokyo declined and the yen rebounded after a 3-day decline. Machinery orders declined more than expected 2.1% in September. Seiko Holdings soared 9% after the watchmaker lifted its annual net outlook. Pioneer Corp vaulted 22% after the car stereo maker swung to operating profit.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo declined and the yen rebounded after a 3-day decline. Machinery orders declined more than expected 2.1% in September. Seiko Holdings soared 9% after the watchmaker lifted its annual net outlook. Pioneer Corp vaulted 22% after the car stereo maker swung to operating profit.[/R]

Market indexes in Japan declined and shipping companies led the decliners in a choppy session. The yen gained after a three day decline.

Machinery orders in September declined more than expected 2.1%, according to the government.

The volatile data series was largely ignored by the market as investors focused on the recent weakening of the yen and rising uncertainty linked to the U.S. monetary stimulus.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 21.52 to 14,567.16 and the Topix slid 1.22 to 1,204.19.

The yen climbed to 99.51 against one dollar after falling for three days in a row.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slipped 40 yen to 6,280 yen and Honda Motor Co. rose 20 yen to 4,020 yen.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd added 5 yen to 911 yen and the car-maker opened up a manufacturing plant in Mexico to make one million vehicles a year in three years. The plant is expected to cost $2 billion.

Sony jumped 46 yen to 1,746 yen.

Softbank Corp slipped 70 yen to 7,510 yen and KDDI Corp. said they will start sell Apple''s new iPad mini model from November 14.

Fast Retailing Co. jumped 350 yen to 32,550 yen.

Kenko.com, Inc slid 0.7% to 1,728 yen after the Japan-based online health products retailer owned by billionaire Hiroshi Mikatani filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government for restricting online sale of some of the drugs.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. gained 1.6% to 621 yen after the company secured an order for modification work to improve core equipment at the municipal solid waste plant in Kyoto Prefecture.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc increased 1.6% to 4,945 yen after the Japan-based bank said group operating revenue in the first-half ending in September climbed 14% to 2.36 trillion yen compared to 2.07 trillion yen a year earlier.

For the year ending in March 2014, the bank lifted its net profit estimate by 29% to 750 billion yen from 580 billion yen a year ago.

Resona Holdings Inc increased 0.8% to 516 yen after the bank lifted its net income outlook by 28% to 185 billion yen.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc are scheduled to report earnings tomorrow.

Seiko Holdings Corp jumped 9% to 501 yen after the maker of watches lifted its annual net income outlook by more than twice to 11 billion yen.

Pioneer Corp soared 22% after the maker of car stereos reported operating profit in the first-half of 569 million compared to an estimate of as much as 2.2 billion loss by several analysts.