Yen Weakness Lifts Tokyo Indexes for Second Week

Hiruki Nakamura
22 Nov, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo advanced and index advance led the developed markets on the continued weakness in the yen. Sony plans to cut $250 million in costs in its entertainment division. Hitachi Ltd plans to issue 60 billion yen of loans to repay debts and fund capital expenditure.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo advanced and index advance led the developed markets on the continued weakness in the yen. Sony plans to cut $250 million in costs in its entertainment division. Hitachi Ltd plans to issue 60 billion yen of loans to repay debts and fund capital expenditure.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher and the broader Topix index gained for the second week in a row as the yen hovered near its 2-month low.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed up at 6.52 to 15,372.26 and the Topix rose 2.26 to 1,248.57. For the week, Nikkei 225 jumped 1.4%.

The yen declined to 101.12 against one dollar and traded volatile and listless in the session today.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp climbed 60 yen to 6,340 yen. Honda Motor Co. jumped 55 yen to 4,295 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd closed unchanged at 928 yen.

Sony slipped 19 yen to 1,875 yen and the movie maker plans to cut costs by $250 million from its entertainment division; including layoffs and reduced the number of movies it produces.

Softbank Corp increased 180 yen to 8,150 yen after the hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb said at a financial conference that he held a $1 billion-plus stake in the Japanese mobile operator.

Fast Retailing Co. dropped 300 yen to 36,800 yen.

Fujitsu Limited gained 2.1% to 479 yen and the information communication technology opened new facilities at its Akashi System Center, the company''s main datacenter in western Japan.

Hitachi Limited climbed 3.3% to 724 yen and the diversified company begins construction on test facility for CO2 Capture Technology from coal-fired power plants.

Separately, today the company said it plan to issue the unsecured straight bonds as much as 60 billion yen in three maturity tranches of 5 years, 10 years and 15 years.

Sharp Corporation surged 8.4% to 322 yen after the Nikkei newspaper reported that telecommunication equipment maker plans to begin selling smart-phone’s small- and mid-size liquid crystal display panels to China''s ZTE Corp.