Nikkei Turns Lower 1.4%, Ichibanya Net Soars

Hiruki Nakamura
26 Mar, 2015
New York City

Nikkei index in Tokyo closed lower following an Asia-wide sell-off sparked by more than 1% decline in New York. Ichibanya Co said third-quarter earnings surged 39% on 6% increase in revenues. Mitsubishi Motors plans to invest $500 million in Indonesia.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei index in Tokyo closed lower following an Asia-wide sell-off sparked by more than 1% decline in New York. Ichibanya Co said third-quarter earnings surged 39% on 6% increase in revenues. Mitsubishi Motors plans to invest $500 million in Indonesia.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower following the market sell-off in New York. The yen held firm.

Market sentiment was weak and indexes across Asia declined after the latest durable goods orders report showed a decline in the U.S. in February.

The decline in orders surprised economists and investors worried that the rising dollar may impact profit margins at large companies in the S&P 500 index. Nearly 50% of earnings are originating outside the U.S. for the companies in the index.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 275.08 or 1.4% to 19,471.12 and the broader Topix index slumped 23.19 to 1,568.82.

The yen closed at 119.55 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Ichibanya Co., Ltd dropped 2.8% to 5,540 yen after the curry specialty restaurants reported net sales in the third-quarter ending in February climbed 5.5% to 32.83 billion yen from 31.12 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the period surged 39.5% to 2.27 billion yen compared to 1.63 billion yen and earnings per share jumped to 142.63 yen from 102.24 yen in the same period a year ago.

The restaurants operator forecasted revenues for the fourth-quarter to increase 1% to 43 billion yen and net income to climb 8.9% to 2.60 billion yen.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation slumped 1.1% to 1,097 yen after the sports utility vehicle maker plans to build new plant in west Java Province of Indonesia with an estimated cost of $500 million with an assembling capacity of 160,000 vehicles per year.

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd slipped 1.1% to 1,841 yen after the Nikkei news reported paper and pulp maker’s sales for the year ending in March to decline 2% to 1.06 trillion yen and operating profit to fall 16% to 24 billion yen.

Tokyo Electron Ltd declined 5.8% to 8,296 yen after the industrial electronic products maker forecasted revenues for the year ending in March to increase 1.8% to 609 billion and net swung to profit of 66 billion from a loss of 19.4 billion in a year ago period.