Nikkei at New 15-Year High, Eisai Soars 20%

Hiruki Nakamura
23 Mar, 2015
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo advanced and the Nikkei jumped to a new 15-year high. Japan Tobacco estimated lower than expected decline in operating earnings at the 30th annual general meeting since privatization. Eisai jumped 20% after the latest study showed effective treatment for Alzheimer disease.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo advanced and the Nikkei jumped to a new 15-year high. Japan Tobacco estimated lower than expected decline in operating earnings at the 30th annual general meeting since privatization. Eisai jumped 20% after the latest study showed effective treatment for Alzheimer disease.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo gained and the Nikkei jumped to a new 15-year high following the market advance in New York.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 194.14 or 1% to 19,754.36 and the broader Topix index increased 11.74 to 1,592.25.

The yen strengthened to 119.81 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Eisai Co soared 20% to 8,748 yen after the company said, over the weekend, results of its Alzheimer treatment drug were effective. The news was first reported in a research report by Barclays and were confirmed from participants at an industry conference in Nice, France.

Japan Wind Development Co., Ltd surged 17.3% to 543 yen after the wind power producer said the U.S.-based private equity firm Bain Capital LLC plans to acquire the company through a tender offer for about 9.7 billion yen.

Under the terms, Bain offered 580 yen or $4.76 per share, a 25% premium over the company''s closing price on Friday.

Japan Exchange Group Inc climbed 3.2% to 3,670 yen after the trading exchange operator forecasted revenues for the year ending in March to jump 4.5% to 105.50 billion yen and net income to soar 15.1% to 30.5 billion yen.

Japan Tobacco Inc jumped 2.8% to 3,768.50 yen after the tobacco products maker forecasted operating profit for the year ending in March to drop to 539 billion yen, more than 100 billion yen decline compared to a previous year which ended in March.

The company forecasted results at the annual meeting in Tokyo on March 20 and April month markets 30 years since the company was privatized. Once the domestic tobacco company now operates in 120 countries and regions and overseas sales account for 60% of total sales.

The fourth largest tobacco company recently changed its financial year ending to December from March.

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp rose 0.3% to 312.30 yen after the steel producer and Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd petroleum and petrochemical supplier signed a contract to acquire 10% stake in Australia-based Boggabri coal mine for an undisclosed amount.

Sharp Corporation soared 4.6% to 249 yen after the Nikkei news reported that Taiwan based electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry plans for another offer to acquire a larger stake in the company.

The electric and electronic equipment maker forecasted net loss for the year ending in March to be more than 200 billion yen mainly due to weak performances in solar panel business and liquid crystal display panel segment.