Stocks in Japan and Asia Drop, Nitto Denko, Mixi, DeNA Plunge

Hiruki Nakamura
12 Dec, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo and Asia dropped and the yen hovered near its recent low. Overseas investors increased Japanese stocks holdings by 12.9 trillion yen in the current year to November. Nitto Denko plunged 19% after it lowered earnings outlook.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo and Asia dropped and the yen hovered near its recent low. Overseas investors increased Japanese stocks holdings by 12.9 trillion yen in the current year to November. Nitto Denko plunged 19% after it lowered earnings outlook.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo edged lower following a market decline across Asia after Fed taper worries rose after U.S. Congressional leaders struck a compromise and avert government shutdown.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped 173.24 or 1.1% to 15,341.82 and the Topix slid 8.22 to 1,242.23.

The yen closed at 102.58 against one dollar.

Overseas investors increased exposure to Japanese stocks by 12.9 trillion yen in the year through November exceeding the inflow in 2005, according to data released by Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp declined 50 yen to 6,170 yen. Honda Motor Co. dropped 50 yen to 4,165 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd slid 4 yen to 893 yen.

Sony decreased 5 yen to 1,818 yen and PS4 game console box sales in first fifteen days exceeded 2.1 million units. Microsoft sold 2 million Xbox consoles in first 18 days of its launch.

Softbank Corp fell 100 yen to 8,960 yen. Fast Retailing Co. slumped 500 yen to 37,200 yen.

Mixi Inc plunged 20% to 6,060 yen. The stock fell by daily-limit for the second day in a row. DeNA slumped 8% to 2,130 yen after Mitsubishi UFJ lowered its target price to 1,700 yen from 1,900 yen.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc rose 0.4% to 5,020 yen after the investment bank said it plans to buy Chicago-based Flagship Rail Services LLC from Perella Weinberg Partners LP for a price between 30 billion yen and 50 billion yen.

Toray Industries Inc fell 0.6% to 714 yen after the fiber and textile products maker plans to invest billions of yen to fortify its fiber and textile business in Southeast Asia to generate 1 trillion yen or $9.7 billion in sales and 70 billion yen in operating profit in the textile segment in 2016.

For fiscal 2013, the company expected revenue to climb 18% to 750 billion yen and operating profit to soar 27% to 55 billion yen.

Nitto Denko dropped 19% to 4,180 yen and led the decliners among all Topix members after the company lowered its full-year net income estimate by 27% to 41 billion yen.