Japan Stocks Decline for Second Day in Japan, BOJ Announcement Awaited

Hiruki Nakamura
07 Apr, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower for the second day in a row. The Bank of Japan commenced its 2-day meeting that may lead to no change in its bond purchase program. Daiichi Sankyo gained 3% after the company agreed to sell Ranbaxy Laboratories for $3.2 billion.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed lower for the second day in a row. The Bank of Japan commenced its 2-day meeting that may lead to no change in its bond purchase program. Daiichi Sankyo gained 3% after the company agreed to sell Ranbaxy Laboratories for $3.2 billion.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo declined for the second day in a row and investors anticipated no change in policy of bond purchase program by the central bank at the end of 2-day meeting tomorrow.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 254.92 or 1.7% to 14,808.85 and the Topix index dropped 19.05 to 1,196.84.

The yen gained 0.2% to 103.13 against the U.S. dollar.

The Bank of Japan is expected to leave its bond purchase program intact and announce new measures of economic stimulus at the end of two-day meeting tomorrow.

The central bank has committed to monetary expansion between 60 trillion yen and 70 trillion yen a year and the bank is expected to double its purchase of exchange traded funds linked to market indexes to 2 trillion yen.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slipped 34 yen to 5,758 yen. Honda Motor Co declined 103 yen to 3,571 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd fell 0.8% to 939 yen.

Sony slid 6 yen to 1,988 yen.

Softbank Corp plummeted 365 yen or 4.6% to 7,556 yen. Fast Retailing Co slumped 690 yen to 37,975 yen.

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited climbed 3.3% to 1,813 yen after the announcement from the company that India-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. agreed to buy generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd for $3.2 billion.

Daiichi Sankyo holds 63.5% stake in Ranbaxy. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year. After the deal Daiichi will control 9% stake in merged Sun Pharma and will take board seats.

Daiichi acquired Ranbaxy for nearly $5 billion and soon afterward the local management in India faced production problems and regulatory inquiries from the U.S.

Mitsui & Co. Ltd fell 0.9% to 1,468 yen after the company plans to build an advanced coal-fired power plant in Malaysia at an estimated cost of around 360 billion yen.