Nikkei in 12-Day Rally, Shanghai Soars

Hiruki Nakamura
01 Jun, 2015
New York City

Stocks in Japan closed higher as Nikkei advanced in the longest rally since February 1998. Market indexes in Shanghai soared 4.7% and market indexes have soared 50% in the year so far. Fujifilm and Fanuc announced shareholder friendly moves.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Japan closed higher as Nikkei advanced in the longest rally since February 1998. Market indexes in Shanghai soared 4.7% and market indexes have soared 50% in the year so far. Fujifilm and Fanuc announced shareholder friendly moves.[/R]

Nikkei average in Tokyo turned positive in the early afternoon and extended rally to the twelve days, the longest rally in eighteen years.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average edged up 6.72 to 20,569.87 and the broader Topix index rose 4.91 to 1,678.56.

The yen closed at 124.18 against a dollar, a low not seen since 2007.

Stocks in Review

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation fell 0.9% to 4,710 yen after the films, digital cameras and optical devices maker plans to buy back 16 million shares worth about 50 billion yen before end of July 31.

The company had completed total buyback of 2.60 million shares between May 18 and May 29 for about 12.2 billion yen.

Fanuc Corp gained 0.4% to 27,650 yen after the factory automation machinery maker reported it will retire more than 33.56 million treasury shares representing 14% of shares issued worth about 920 billion yen or $7.41 billion up to June 10.

In April, Fanuc said it will return 80% of its profit back to shareholders.

ITO EN, LTD jumped 2.1% to 2,746 yen after the tea and drinks maker reported net sales in the year ending in April slipped 1.6% to 430.54 billion yen form 437.76 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the year tumbled 39.7% to 7.29 billion yen compared to 12.10 billion yen and diluted earnings per share declined to 56.46 yen from 95.49 yen in the same period a year ago.

The company forecasted net sales in the first-half ending in October to jump 6.7% to 249.50 billion yen and net income to surge 25.6% to 5.50 billion yen.

The drinks maker said estimated net sales for the year to climb 6.8% to 460 billion yen and net profit to soar 19.3% to 8.70 billion yen.

Tomoe Engineering Co., Ltd dropped 2.8% to 1,696 yen after the centrifuge decanters maker lowered revenues forecast for the first-half to 20.09 billion yen from 20.7 billion in October 2014.

Net profit was estimated to climb to 923 million yen from 670 million in the year-ago period.