Japan Indexes Drop Second Day, Yakult Plunges 6%

Hiruki Nakamura
27 Nov, 2014
New York City

Market indexes in Tokyo closed lower and the yen struggled to hold firm after two weeks of weakness. Resource and oil exploration companies were in focus after the OPEC members disagreed to cut oil production. Yakult Honsha dropped 6% after the France-based Danone plans to sell its 20% stake.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo closed lower and the yen struggled to hold firm after two weeks of weakness. Resource and oil exploration companies were in focus after the OPEC members disagreed to cut oil production. Yakult Honsha dropped 6% after the France-based yogurt maker Danone SA plans to sell its 20% stake in the company.[/R]

Indexes in Tokyo slipped and the yen struggled to hold firm after dropping in the last two weeks of trading.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 135.08 or 0.8% to 17,248.50 and the broader Topix index decreased 14.50 to 1,391.90.

The yen slipped 0.1% to 117.47 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Cyberdyne Inc declined 4.4% to 3,355 yen after the medical robots developer plans to offer non-domestic convertible bonds due in 2017. The company said net proceeds from the international offering are estimated at about 41 billion yen.

Cybernet Systems Co., Ltd fell 1.1% to 457 yen after the technical service provider forecasted net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in December to jump 8% to 16 billion yen from 14.7 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter is estimated to climb 10.9% to 600 million yen compared to 541 million yen in the same period a year ago.

Daiei Inc dropped 2.2% to 133 yen after the general merchandise retailer received shareholder approval to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Aeon Co. through equity swaps in January.

As of August-end, equity stake of Aeon’s in Daiei is about 44%.

Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd slipped 1% to 1,245 yen after the agrochemical products maker agreed to acquire 74% stake in India-based Hyderabad Chemical Limited.

The transaction is expected to close at the end of January 2015.

Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd plunged 6.1% to 6,290 yen after the France-based world''s largest yogurt and milk products maker Danone SA agreed to sell its 20% stake valued about $2 billion in the food and beverage company.