Nikkei at 3-Week Low, Tokio Marine in $7.5 B Deal to Buy HCC

Hiruki Nakamura
10 Jun, 2015
New York City

Stocks eased in Japan for the fourth day and the Nikkei average dropped to a three-week low after the yen advanced for the second day. BoJ Governor Kuroda said effective exchange rate is not likely to weaken more. Tokio Marine agreed to acquire U.S. based insurer for $7.5 billion.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks eased in Japan for the fourth day and the Nikkei average dropped to a three-week low after the yen advanced for the second day. BoJ Governor Kuroda said effective exchange rate is not likely to weaken more. Tokio Marine agreed to acquire U.S. based insurer for $7.5 billion.[/R]

Market indexes in Tokyo declined for the fourth-day in a row and the Nikkei average fell to a 3-week low after the yen surged following comments from Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of Bank of Japan.

On economic front, core machine orders in April climbed 3.8% following 2.9% increase in March, the Cabinet Office said.

For the year, core machine orders increased 3% after rising 2.6% last month.

Producer prices in May rose 0.3% compared to 0.1% increase in April, the Bank of Japan said. On a yearly basis, producer prices in May declined 2.1% from a year earlier, decreased second month in a row.

Export prices in May climbed 4.8% while import prices plunged 8.3% from a year ago moth.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 49.94 or 0.2% to 20,046.36 and the broader Topix index slid 6.14 to 1,628.23.

The yen closed at 122.80 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Bit-isle Inc rose 0.8% to 515 yen after the networking services provider said net sales in the third-quarter ending in April climbed 5.3% to 13.90 billion yen from 13.20 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter plunged 23.3% to 936 million yen compared to 1.22 billion yen and diluted earnings per share declined to 26.21 yen from 33.77 yen in the same period a year ago.

Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co Ltd increased 0.5% to 2,283.50 yen after the life insurance company president Koichiro Watanabe said the insurer is not interested in bidding for insurance unit of Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

Panasonic Corporation gained 1% to 1,714 yen after the diversified company’s Healthcare unit agreed Wednesday to acquire the diabetes devices business of Germany-based conglomerate Bayer AG for about €1.02 billion or $1.16 billion or about 138 billion yen.

The transaction is expects to close in the first-quarter of next year.

Tokio Marine Holdings Inc slipped 0.9% to 4,905 yen after the insurance company agreed to acquire the U.S.-based specialty insurer HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc for $78 a share in cash, a premium of 35.8% to closing price of June 9.

The total transaction, valued at about $7.5 billion, is expected to close in the fourth-quarter.

Token Corporation closed unchanged at 6,730 yen after the construction company reported revenues in the year ending in April jumped 4.8% to 265.34 billion yen from 253.20 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 23.1% to 6.22 billion yen compared to 5.26 billion yen and earnings per share increased to 461.75 yen from 390.78 yen in the same period a year ago.