Tokyo Stocks in Longest Rally in Five Years

Hiruki Nakamura
04 Jun, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher for the tenth day in a row in a longest rally in five years as investors focused on rising dollar and the monetary stimulus in Europe. Dai-ichi Life confirmed the purchase of U.S. based protective Life for $5.7 billion.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed higher for the tenth day in a row in a longest rally in five years as investors focused on rising dollar and the monetary stimulus in Europe. Dai-ichi Life confirmed the purchase of U.S. based protective Life for $5.7 billion.[/R]

Investors bid up stocks for the tenth day in a row in Tokyo and the yen weakened and steelmakers and exporters led the gainers.

The Bank of Japan said monetary base in May grew 0.5% to 226.62 trillion yen from April, a record high for the fourth month in a row amid to increase the monetary base to 270 trillion yen by the end of the year to achieve 2% of inflation target.

The Finance Ministry reported tax revenue collected in April climbed 4.4% to 4.51 trillion yen and income tax revenue rose 6.6%. Revenue from consumption tax jumped to 4.5% and corporate tax revenue declined to 10%.

Cumulative tax revenue for the year ending in March soared 5.3% to 39.85 trillion yen from a year ago.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 33.71 or 0.2% to 15,067.96 and the broader Topix index rose 5.36 to 1,233.95.

The yen eased to 102.69 against one U.S. dollar.

Stocks in Review

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited increased 0.7% to 1,775 yen after the pharmaceutical company agreed to swap Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited stake with India-based Sun Pharma.

Daiichi agreed on the exchange of 0.8 Sun Pharma’s share for each Ranbaxy share to arrive at the share swap ratio.

The company added founder and the majority stock holder in Sun Pharma will hold 63.65% of the total number of issued shares.

Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co Ltd climbed 3.6% to 1,499 yen after the life insurance company agreed to acquire the U.S.-based Protective Life Corp for $70 per share in cash with a total value of $5.7 billion.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year or early 2015.

Kawata Mfg. Co., LTD last traded at 300 yen after the plastic processing equipment maker reported net sales in the year ending in March jumped 4.3% to 15.71 billion yen from 15.06 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the year climbed 68.3% to 324 million yen compared to 192 million yen and earnings per share jumped to 45.84 yen from 27.23 yen a year earlier.

Mori Building Company closed unchanged at 896 yen after the real estate developer plans projects in central Tokyo worth an estimated 1 trillion yen or $9.7 billion with partners ahead of 2020 Olympic Games.

The ceremony for Toranomon Hills, multi-use high-rise at Special Zone for Asian Headquarters established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will open on June 11.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc rose 0.3% to 597 yen and the bank plans to issue Islamic bonds for up to $500 million in Malaysia to meet the rising demand in Southeast Asia and in the Middle East.