Financials Lead Gainers in Japan Indexes, Shippers Fall on Rate Weakness

Hiruki Nakamura
15 Apr, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo halted a seven-day losing streak and financials led the gainers. The yen strengthened and the ocean freight shipping companies led the decliners after the measure of freight rate declined for the fourteenth day in a row.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo halted a seven-day losing streak and financials led the gainers. The yen strengthened and the ocean freight shipping companies led the decliners after the measure of freight rate declined for the fourteenth day in a row.[/R]

Market indexes in Tokyo closed higher and the yen gained 0.3%. Indexes advanced after a seven-day weakness and financials led the charge.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 86.65 or 0.6% to 13,996.81 and the Topix index dropped 15.40 or 1.3% to 1,134.09.

The yen strengthened to 101.80 against the U.S. dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slid 10 yen to 5,400 yen. Honda Motor Co rose 12 yen to 3,455 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd gained 0.7% to 902 yen.

Sony increased 9 yen to 1,879 yen.

Softbank Corp climbed 228 yen or 3.4% to 7,008 yen. Fast Retailing Co Ltd fell 135 yen to 32,660 yen.

Arigatou Services Co Ltd increased 1.7% to 1,800 yen after the Japan-based food services provider said net sales in the year ending in February jumped 4.7% to 7.41 billion yen from 7.06 billion yen a year ago.

Net income in the year surged 25.1% to 210 million yen compared to 194.06 million yen and diluted earnings per share increased to 16.8 yen from 16.2 yen a year earlier.

Japan Tobacco Inc gained 1.8% to 3,215 yen after the Japan-based tobacco producer lifted its net sales forecast for the year ending in March to 58.1 billion yen from 55.5 billion yen and net income in the year to 3.35 billion yen from the earlier forecast of 1.90 billion yen.