Nikkei in Tokyo Slips, Japan Post Unveils Investment Plan

Hiruki Nakamura
28 Feb, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo edged lower and the Nikkei closed down 0.2% for the week and fell 0.9% in the month. Itochu, the first Japanese company took a stake in water utility in Spain. Japan Post unveiled an investment plan for the next three years.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo edged lower and the Nikkei closed down 0.2% for the week and fell 0.9% in the month. Itochu, the first Japanese company took a stake in water utility in Spain. Japan Post unveiled an investment plan for the next three years.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo slipped and the yen strengthened as political turmoil in Eastern Europe continued.

The trade ministry said industrial output in January jumped 4% the fastest increase since output climbed 4.2% in June 2011.

Domestic demand was robust and the consumers acted ahead of the scheduled national sales tax increase.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said core consumer price index in January increased 1.3%.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 82.04 or 0.5% to 14,841.07 and the Topix index fell 5.69 to 1,211.66.

For the week, Nikkei 225 slid 0.2% and for the month decreased 0.9%.

The yen dropped to 101.61 against the U.S. dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp dropped 70 yen to 5,839 yen. Honda Motor Co slipped 52 yen to 3,647 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd fell 0.3% to 911 yen.

Sony jumped 23 yen to 1,780 yen.

Softbank Corp declined 242 yen to 7,668 yen. Fast Retailing Co slumped 500 yen to 35,050 yen.

Itochu Corporation rose 0.2% to 1,264 yen after the trading company agreed to buy 33.4% equity stake in Spain-based Canaragua Concesiones SA, a unit of Agbar, a private water utility company.

Itochu Corp. will be the first Japanese company in the water utility sector in Spain.

Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd, the state-owned parcel delivery service provider unveiled a medium-term business plan for fiscal 2014-2016, including 1.3 trillion yen in investment aimed at boosting operations.

The company expects consolidated net profit for fiscal 2016 to be about 350 billion yen.

The company added its banking unit Japan Post Bank forecast the total balance of deposits received approx 6 trillion yen from the end of fiscal 2013 to 183.8 trillion yen at the end of fiscal 2016.

In fiscal 2013, the Post group reported net income jumped to 562.7 billion yen, up 93.8 billion yen from the previous year.

Marubeni Corporation fell 0.7% to 713 yen after the Japan-based trading company plans to acquire the U.S.-based seafood distributor Eastern Fish Co. for about $56 million.