Nikkei Extends Weekly Decline, Asahi and Kirin in Focus

Hiruki Nakamura
10 Jul, 2015
New York City

Nikkei average in Tokyo edged lower but markets in Asia returned normality after regulatory steps in China calmed world markets. Oil, natural gas and iron ore continued to trade with negative bias in Asia. Asahi Glass said first-half sales rose 2%.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei average in Tokyo edged lower but markets in Asia returned normality after regulatory steps in China calmed world markets. Oil, natural gas and iron ore continued to trade with negative bias in Asia. Asahi Glass said first-half sales rose 2%.[/R]

Market averages in Tokyo reacted to local news and world markets stabilized after regulatory steps in China brought back semblance of calm in the marts.

M2 money stock in June climbed 3.8% to 908.7 trillion yen from upwardly revised 4.1% increase in May, the Bank of Japan reported.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 75.67 or 0.4% to 19,779.83 and the broader Topix index rose 3.66 to 1,583.55. For the week, Nikkei declined 3.6%.

The yen closed at 121.87 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review] ]

Asahi Glass Co Ltd increased 0.9% to 687 yen after the Nikkei daily reported the glass manufacturer’s sales for the first-half ending in June rose 2% to 670 billion yen and operating profit soared 23% to 32 billion yen.

The company forecasted full-year operating profit of about 62 billion yen.

Activia Properties Inc dropped 2.3% to 936,000 yen after the real estate developer said net revenues in the first-quarter ending in May soared 11.6% to 9.12 billion yen from 8.17 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 13.7% to 4.58 billion yen compared to 4.03 billion yen and earnings per share increased to 16,688 yen from 16,056 yen in the same period a year ago.

The real estate developer forecasted net revenues in the first-half ending in November to climb 5.6% to 9.63 billion yen and net income to jump 4% to 4.77 billion yen.

Kirin Holdings Co Ltd gained 1.5% to 1,694 yen after the Nikkei news said alcohol beverages and soft drinks maker’s net sales for the first-half to increase 3% to 1.09 trillion yen and operating profit to climb 10% to 55 billion yen.

The company is scheduled to release its first-half results on August 5.

Mori Trust Sogo REIT, Inc slumped 2.5% to 209,800 yen after the real estate developer said it had divested Osaka-based Marubeni office building assets for about 11 billion yen with a loss of 1.65 billion yen.