Nikkei Declines 0.4% on Yen Volatility

Hiruki Nakamura
19 Mar, 2015
New York City

Japan indexes gained and the yen traded near its low in the year as the U.S. Fed left forecasted low rates to continue in the near future. Mitusi & Co Ltd acquired a minority stake in Penske Truck Leasing Co from General Electric Capital Corp.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Japan indexes gained and the yen traded near its low in the year as the U.S. Fed left forecasted low rates to continue in the near future. Mitusi & Co Ltd acquired a minority stake in Penske Truck Leasing Co from General Electric Capital Corp.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo rebounded following Asia-wide surge after the U.S. Fed forecasted low rate regime to continue in the near future and lowered its estimate of federal funds rates to 0.625% from the estimate of 1.125% in December.

The policy makers committee also lowered its assessment of the U.S. economy and said growth has “moderated somewhat” from its January estimate of “solid pace” expansion.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 67.92 or 0.4% to 19,476.56 and the broader Topix index slid 6.65 to 1,575.81.

The yen gained to 120.72 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Fujitsu Ltd fell 0.4% to 822.30 yen after the communication technology provider and Fujitsu Asia Pte. Ltd. announced to set up a new data center in the western part of Singapore to cater the demand for cloud services in Asia.

Mitsui & Co Ltd rose 0.1% to 1,655.50 yen after the diversified company agreed to acquire 20% limited partnership in Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P., a transport and logistics company from General Electric Capital Corp for about 91 billion yen or $750 million.

Nomura Research Institute Ltd slid 0.3% to 4,590 yen after the Nikkei news reported the consulting service provider’s revenues for the year to climb 5% to about 405 billion yen and operating profit to jump 1 billion yen.

Tomita Electric Co., Ltd surged 8.9% to 439 yen after the electronic components maker said net sales in the year ending in January soared 23.3% to 1.89 billion yen from 1.53 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the year climbed to 197 million yen compared to 16 million yen and earnings per share jumped to 29.94 yen from 2.50 yen in the same period a year ago.