Nikkei Extends 4-day Rally; NSK and Mitsubishi Chemical in Focus

Marcus Jacob
16 Jul, 2015
New York City

Nikkei extended gains for the fourth day in a row and the yen held firm after Greek lawmakers approved tougher conditions demanded by international lenders. Mitsubishi Chemical plans to integrate with plastics and rayon companies.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei extended gains for the fourth day in a row and the yen held firm after Greek lawmakers approved tougher conditions demanded by international lenders. Mitsubishi Chemical plans to integrate with plastics and rayon companies.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo extended gains and the yen edged slightly higher in a lacklustre trading after Greek lawmakers approved tougher conditions laid out by international lenders.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 136.79 or 0.7% to 20,600.12 and the broader Topix index increased 14.42 to 1,660.83.

The yen closed at 123.87 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

OBIC Co., Ltd closed unchanged at 5,910 yen after the Nikkei daily said information technology provider’s sales in the in the first-quarter ending in June may be flat at about 13 billion yen but operating profit may jump 3% to 7 billion yen.

For the year, the company forecasted sales to climb 6% to 60 billion yen and operating profit to soar 6% to 29.4 billion yen.

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp soared 5.3% to 804.60 yen after the diversified company plans to integrate three chemical operating companies Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsubishi Plastics and Mitsubishi Rayon into one company by April 2017 president Hitoshi Och said today.

NSK Ltd slipped 1.5% to $1,677 yen after the Nikkei news reported industrial machinery maker’s sales in first-quarter ending in June to increase 5% to 240 billion yen after orders soared in China and in the U.S.

Operating profit for the quarter to surged 13% to 23 billion yen.

For the year, the company forecasted operating profit to climb 5% to 102 billion yen.