Japan Current Account Surplus Surges in May

Hiruki Nakamura
08 Jul, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower and the yen traded nearly unchanged. Japan

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed lower and the yen traded nearly unchanged. Japan’s current account surplus surged in May to 522.8 billion yen but declined 7.7%. Casio Computer plans to buy back 3% of its stock.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo edged lower and current account surplus in May climbed and Asian markets closed mixed.

The Ministry of Finance said current account surplus in May climbed to 522.8 billion yen from 187.4 billion yen in April while declined 7.7% from a year earlier. The trade balance reflected a deficit of 675.9 billion yen following the deficit of 780.4 billion yen in the last month.

Exports jumped 2% to 5.72 trillion yen while imports eased 0.4% for the first time in 19 months to 6.394 trillion yen.

The May trade deficit tumbled 16.9% to 675.9 billion yen, shrank by 137.9 billion yen from a year ago.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 65.03 or 0.4% to 15,314.41 and the broader Topix index fell 4.17 to 1,275.70.

The yen closed at 101.86 against one U.S. dollar.

Stocks in Review

Casio Computer Co. Ltd surged 7.5% to 1,571 yen after the consumer electronics maker plans to buy back about 12.5 billion yen or $123 million to repurchase about 8,500,000 shares up to the August 31.

FamilyMart Co., Ltd closed unchanged at 4,550 yen after the convenience store operator reported revenues in the first-quarter ending in May climbed 7.7% to 88.66 billion yen from 82.33 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 153.5% to 14.02 billion yen compared to 5.53 billion yen a year earlier.

Mitsubishi Corporation slid 0.2% to 2,139 yen after the trading company and its subsidiary Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signed an agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation agreed to acquire shares in Metito Holdings Ltd,

Mitsubishi will acquire in the water firm in the United Arab Emirates a 38.4% stake in its water and wastewater projects.

McDonald''s Holdings Co (Japan) Ltd slipped 1.3% to 2,817 after the fast food chain operator said same-store sales in June declined 8%, fell for the fifth months in a row and the number of customers dropped 10.7% for the fourteenth consecutive month.