Japan Markets Advance on Weekend Election Hopes

Hiruki Nakamura
12 Dec, 2014
New York City

Tokyo indexes closed higher ahead of parliamentary election. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed higher ahead of weekend parliamentary election. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s party led coalition is expected to win more than two-thirds majority. Canon Inc soared after the company announced dividend increase of 15%. Nidec confirmed the purchase of auto parts maker in China and Germany.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed higher on the weekend elections results expectations and the yen slipped against the dollar and the euro.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition is expected to win more than two-thirds majority, according to most local media estimates.

The government is likely to push for aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus and also increase sales tax to plug the rising budgetary deficit and government debt.

Japan has the largest debt among most developed nations, but most of the debt is in the local currency.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 114.18 or 0.7% to 17,371.58 and the broader Topix index rose 2.61 to 1,399.65.

For the week, Nikkei 225 declined 3%.

The yen slipped 0.5% to 118.34 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Ateam Inc gained 1.3% to 5,280 yen after the online game and music provider said revenues in the first-quarter ending in October soared 18.3% to 3.20 billion yen from 2.70 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 480.9% to 328 million yen compared to 56 million yen and diluted earnings per share jumped to 33.63 yen from 5.79 yen in the same period a year ago.

Canon Inc climbed 3.9% to 3,954.50 yen after the camera-maker decided to revise higher dividend in the fourth-quarter ending in December to 85 yen per share and for the year it will distribute to 150 yen per share, an increase of 20 yen in each period from a year ago.

Dentsu Inc rose 0.6% to 4,700 yen after the advertising and marketing service provider agreed to acquire Brazil-based OOH Plus Participações Ltd for undisclosed sum.

Sony Corporation slipped 0.9% to 2,440.50 yen after the Sony Computer Entertainment Inc announced the launch of PlayStation 4 gaming console in China from January 11 with a price of 2,899 yuan or $469.

The company said at the same time hand-held PlayStation Vita PCH-2000 series will also going to sale at 1,299 yuan or $210.

Showa Denko K.K plunged 9.5% to 162 yen after the petrochemical company revised its net sales forecast for the year ending in December to drop 1.1% to 885 billion yen from earlier guidance of 895 billion yen.

Net income to decline 28.6% to 5 billion yen compared to previous estimate of 7 billion yen.