Yen Trading Sets Direction for Nikkei in Tokyo, Rakuten Acquires overdrive

Hiruki Nakamura
20 Mar, 2015
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo extended weekly advance and trading in yen set the pace and direction of stock market indexes. Chiyoda and Mitsubishi to partner to build a new airport in Bohol, Philippines. Rakuten, the online retailer agreed to acquire Overdrive, the ebook platform overDrive.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo extended weekly advance and trading in yen set the pace and direction of stock market indexes. For the week, the Nikkei increased 1.6%. Chiyoda and Mitsubishi to partner to build a new airport in Bohol, Philippines. Rakuten Inc, the online retailer agreed to acquire the U.S.-based eBook company OverDrive Inc.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo edged up and the Nikkei index extended weekly gain to 1.6% after investors remained focused on the direction of the yen and the Bank of Japan’s focus on reviving inflation.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 83.66 or 0.4% to 19,560.22 and the broader Topix index rose 4.70 to 1,580.51. For the week, Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6%.

The yen eased to 120.76 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Chiyoda Corporation fell 0.4% to 1,024 yen after the engineering construction company and Mitsubishi Corporation signed a contract to build a new airport in Bohol, a popular local and foreign tourist destination in Philippines with an estimated cost of 11 billion yen or $91 million.

The airport is expected to be completed in 2017.

NEXT Co., Ltd jumped 2.3% to 1,225 yen after the online real estate services provider said sales in February surged 43.5% to 2.03 billion yen and revenues from real estate information services segment soared 43.4% to 2.02 billion yen.

The company added rental and real estate trade revenues climbed 31% to 1.07 billion yen while revenues from custom-built homes and renovations business declined 19.3% to 70.94 million yen from a year ago month.

Oracle Corporation Japan closed unchanged at 5,440 yen after the enterprise and cloud software provider reported net sales in the nine-month period ending in February jumped 5.3% to 117.56 billion yen from 111.65 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the period soared 16.6% to 22.16 billion yen compared to 19 billion yen and diluted earnings per share increased to 174.09 yen from 149.44 yen in the same period a year ago.

The company forecasted revenues for the year ending in May to jump 3.2% to 160 billion yen and net income to climb 6.4% to 28.90 billion yen.

Rakuten Inc climbed 3.6% to 2,206.50 yen after the online retailer agreed to acquire the U.S.-based eBook company OverDrive Inc for about $410 million.

Yahoo Japan Corporation surged 6.3% to 510 yen after the internet search services provider announced to nearly double dividend to 8.86 yen per share.