Nikkei Declines 1.5%; Japan Tobacco, Seven & I in Focus

Hiruki Nakamura
05 Dec, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo declined after market indexes advanced for two days in a row. The yen gained 0.3%. Japan Tobacco acquired 20% stake in Russia based tobacco distributor. Seven & I acquired 45% stake in a department store operator Barneys Japan Co. Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo declined after market indexes advanced for two days in a row. The yen gained 0.3%. Japan Tobacco acquired 20% stake in Russia based tobacco distributor. Seven & I acquired 45% stake in a department store operator Barneys Japan Co. Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo declined after advancing two days and the yen gained for the second day in a row.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 230.45 or 1.5% to 15,177.49 and the Topix slumped 11.34 or 0.9% to 1,229.65.

The yen closed at 102.08 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slipped 60 yen to 6,220 yen. Honda Motor Co. dropped 35 yen to 4,195 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd slumped 32 yen to 880 yen.

Sony decreased 21 yen to 1,824 yen after the electronic products maker said it plans to invest 60 billion yen to improve the chip operations in this year.

Softbank Corp jumped 160 yen to 8,660 yen. Fast Retailing Co. declined 1,200 yen or 3.1% to 37,000 yen.

Japan Tobacco Inc rose 0.3% to 3,440 yen and the company and the U.S. based Philip Morris International Inc agreed to acquire 20% stakes for $750 million each in Russian distributor Megapoli.

Megapolis delivered above 260 billion cigarettes in 2012 and earned revenue of about $12 billion.

Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd slid 0.3% to 3,740 yen after the company agreed to acquire 44.99% stake in department store operator Barneys Japan Co. Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.