Yen at Seven Year Low, Softbank Invests $250 M in GrabTaxi

Hiruki Nakamura
04 Dec, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher and automakers led the charge. The yen closed at its weakest since 2007 and the Japanese currency has declined 12% in the year so far against the U.S. dollar. Softbank invests in taxi booking service provider in Southeast Asia.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed higher and automakers led the charge. The yen closed at its weakest since 2007 and the Japanese currency has declined 12% in the year so far against the U.S. dollar. Softbank invests in taxi booking service provider in Southeast Asia.[/R]

Sharp drop in Japanese yen lifted market indexes and automaker led the gainers.

The yen dropped to a low not seen since 2007 on the renewed optimism that the U.S. economic growth will accelerate after the recent fall in crude oil prices and auto sales are likely to surpass six-year high.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 166.78 or 0.9% to 17,887.21 and the broader Topix index increased 10.85 to 1,440.60.

The yen rose 0.1% to 119.95 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Bit-isle Inc dropped 2.1% to 465 yen after the information technology provider said net sales in the first-quarter ending in July slumped 3.1% to 4.29 billion yen from 4.43 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter declined 43.7% to 259 million yen compared to 460 million yen and diluted earnings per share decreased to 7.26 yen from 12.64 yen in the same period a year ago.

Dentsu Inc increased 2.2% to 4,640 yen after the advertising and marketing service provider agreed to acquire the U.K.-based social media management company Tempero Limited.

Softbank Corp slid 0.1% to 7,803 yen after the mobile communication service provider invested $250 million or £159.2 million in one of Southeast Asia''s mobile taxi-booking application service developer, GrabTaxi.

Tomy Co Ltd soared 5.9% to 659 yen after the toymaker announced plans to share buyback of as much as 6.7 billion yen or $55.9 million.