Nikkei Soars 1.9%, Whoelsale Prices Decline in Japan Accelerates

Hiruki Nakamura
15 Jan, 2015
New York City

Market indexes in Tokyo soared more than 1.4% after the yen fell from its strongest level in the year. Tire and rubber makers soared on the expectations of earnings boost from the sharp fall in oil price below $50 a barrel. Producer price index decline accelerated in December.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo soared more than 1.4% after the yen fell from its strongest level in the year and traded below 118 against the dollar. Tire and rubber makers soared on the expectations of earnings boost from the sharp fall in oil price below $50 a barrel. Producer price index decline accelerated in December.[/R]

Stocks in Japan soared and wholesale price index decline accelerated in December and export and import price index fell more than expected.

Market indexes staged a rally after the yen eased from its strongest level in the year and energy producers gained after a slight advance in international price of oil.

The Bank of Japan said producer price index in December slipped 0.4% to 104.8 from the downwardly revised decline of 0.2% in November.

For the year, wholesale price index in December jumped 1.9% from a year ago month.

Export prices in December fell 0.7% and dropped 2.7% from a year ago month while import prices declined 3.2% in the month and plunging 9% from a year ago month.

The Cabinet Office said core machinery orders in November edged up 1.3% from the previous month to 788 billion yen

In November, orders from the manufacturing sector declined 7% to 319.8 billion yen while those from non-manufacturers eked out a 0.5% increase to 444.9 billion yen.

The department said total orders including domestic public sector and abroad plunged 10.4% to 2.02 trillion yen.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 312.74 or 1.9% to 17,108.70 and the broader Topix index jumped 18.62 or 1.4% to 1,376.60.

The yen weakened to 117.85 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Skymark Airlines Inc tumbled 6.9% to 363 yen after Asahi Shimbun reported capital injection talks with ANA Holdings Inc collapsed.

However, the losses of as much as 15% after the carrier reached a code sharing agreement with two domestic largest airlines according to a report by Nikkei news service.

Softbank Corp gained 0.8% to 7,012 yen after the communication service provider and others along with Alibaba and Tiger Global invested about 70 billion yen or $600 million in Travice Inc, a Chinese mobile taxi-hailing app provider KuaiDi Dache.

Chief executive officer Chuanwei Lu said in a joint statement that Alibaba and Tiger Global already have stakes in the tax-service mobile app operator.

Takashimaya Company, Limited jumped 2.4% to 954 yen after the department store operator said sales in December fell 0.8% and sales at four regional stores in Okayama, Gifu, Yonago and Takasaki slipped 0.9%.

Sales from the Western region surged 12.6% and total sales in the month jumped 3.6%.

Corporate segment sales plunged 8.7% while sales from the cross-media business segment soared 16.2%.

Rakuten Inc jumped 2.4% to 1,637.50 yen after the online shopping service provider plans to offer lockers in partnership with Japan Post Co. Ltd at about 30 locations in Tokyo starting from April.