Nikkei Extends Weekly Gain; Konica Minolta, Nikon Net Drop

Hiruki Nakamura
07 Aug, 2015
New York City

Nikkei 225 Average extended weekly gain and trading companies and camera makers were in focus after earnings results. Konica Minolta quarterly net declined 30% and Nikon net dropped 10%. Yokogawa Electric quarterly net jumped nearly four-fold.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei 225 Average extended weekly gain and trading companies and camera makers were in focus after earnings results. Konica Minolta quarterly net declined 30% and Nikon net dropped 10%. Yokogawa Electric quarterly net jumped nearly four-fold.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower and for the week the Nikkei average closed up as technology companies, banks and trading companies report earnings in the week.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 60.12 or 0.3% to 20,724.56 and the broader Topix index rose 5.61 to 1,679.19.

For the week, Nikkei 225 gained 0.7%.

The yen eased to 124.74 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

DeNA Co Ltd gained 0.8% to 2,383 after the media and online marketing services provider said net sales in the first-quarter ending in June jumped 5.3% to 37.72 billion yen from 35.82 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter declined 45% to 2.22 billion yen compared to 4.03 billion yen and diluted earnings per share dropped to 14.48 yen from 29.01 yen in the same period a year ago.

Konica Minolta Inc plunged 8.5% to 1,439 yen after the electronic products maker reported net sales in the first-quarter ending in June climbed 9.7% to 248.64 billion yen from 226.63 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 29.6% to 6.59 billion yen compared to 9.37 billion yen and diluted earnings per share slumped to 13.15 yen from 18.29 yen in the same period a year ago.

Konica estimated net sales for the year ending in March 2016 to jump 9.7% to 1.10 trillion yen and net income to surge 22.1% to 50 billion yen.

Nissin Foods Holdings Co Ltd rose 0.3% to 5,740 yen after the instant foods maker stated net sales in the first-quarter ending in June increased 6.6% to 104.94 billion yen from 98.40 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter soared 34.7% to 5.44 billion yen compared to 4.04 billion yen and diluted earnings per share jumped to 49.10 yen from 36.47 yen in the same period a year ago.

For the year, the company estimated net sale to soar 8.4% to 468 billion yen and net income to decrease 1.5% to 8 billion yen.

Nikon Corporation jumped 4.7% to 1,582 yen after the camera maker reported net sales in the first-quarter ending in June rose 2.7% to 182.24 billion yen from 177.44 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter plunged 10.6% to 3.30 billion yen compared to 3.70 billion yen and diluted earnings per share fell to 8.31 yen from 9.31 yen in the same period a year ago.

For the fist-half, the company estimated net sales to increase 2.4% to 384 billion yen and net income to tumble 50.4% to 5 billion yen.

For fiscal 2016, Nikon forecasted net sale to edge up 1.4% to 870 billion yen and net income to climb 8.9% to 20 billion yen.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation slid 0.1% to 1432 yen after the measurement equipment net sales in the first-quarter ending in June climbed 12% to 92.69 billion yen from 82.79 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 368.5% to 5.11 billion yen compared to 1.09 billion yen and earnings per share rose to 19.85 yen from 4.24 yen in the same period a year ago.