Nikkei Gains 1.4%, Line Denies Stake Sale Talks with Softbank

Hiruki Nakamura
25 Feb, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Japan closed higher and the yen held firm following a rise in international markets in overnight trading. Honda Motor opened a new plant in India with investment of $600 million. Line in Japan denies media reports of stake sale talks with Softbank.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan closed higher and the yen held firm following a rise in international markets in overnight trading. Honda Motor opened a new plant in India with investment of $600 million. Line in Japan denies media reports of stake sale talks with Softbank.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher and the yen closed nearly unchanged in active trading.

Market indexes in Tokyo and in Asia advanced after S&P 500 index closed at a new high and indexes in Europe also gained.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 213.92 or 1.4% to 15,051.60 and the Topix index increased 14.59 to 1,233.66.

The yen closed at 102.56 against the U.S. dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp jumped 66 yen to 5,990 yen.

Honda Motor Co rose 30 yen to 3,710 yen after the Japan-based automaker introduced new products in India and inaugurated new manufacturing unit in Rajasthan State.

Honda plans to start production with annual production of 60,000 vehicles but the facility will have annual capacity of 120,000 per in two shifts. The total investment in the plant is approximately $600 million.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd added 0.2% to 920 yen.

Sony fell 9 yen to 1,766 yen after the Sony Corporation of America signed a 15-year lease with The Sapir Organization and CIM Group for approximately 525,000 square feet of space at 11 Madison Avenue in New York City.

Softbank Corp soared 321 yen or 4.1% to 8,095 yen and the telecommunication company plans to acquire Line Corporation, the mobile-messaging service that is owned by South Korea-based Naver Corporation.

In fiscal 2013, revenue of Line was about 34.3 billion yen, including sell of games and stickers.

Fast Retailing Co gained 240 yen to 35,995 yen.

Mazda Motor Corp rose 0.6% to 495 yen after the cars and sport-utility vehicles maker said as on January 22, its total production of Mazda Axela in Japan reached to 4 million units.

NEC Corporation climbed 3.5% to 329 yen after the diversified information technology provide Software-Defined Network at Tokyo Station, one of the world’s busiest train stations, for the East Japan Railway Company and is scheduled to be complete in March.

Toshiba Corporation gained 0.5% to 438 yen after Infrastructure developer said it’s India-based subsidiary won order from state-owned power generator NTPC for the supply of two 800 mega watt super-critical steam turbine valued $180 million.