Nikkei Plunges 4% on Corporate Spending Slowdown

Hiruki Nakamura
01 Sep, 2015
New York City

Nikkei average in Tokyo plunged nearly 4% after corporate capital spending growth declined in June quarter and investors worried that the current quarter data may show additional weakness. Toshiba Corp plunged 5% after the conglomerate delayed releasing financial statements again.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei average in Tokyo plunged nearly 4% after corporate capital spending growth declined in June quarter and investors worried that the current quarter data may show additional weakness. Toshiba Corp plunged 5% after the conglomerate delayed releasing financial statements again.[/R]

Nikkei index plunged following Asia-wide decline after the latest manufacturing data in China showed slowing manufacturing sector and domestic capital spending declined.

The official gauge of manufacturing activities in August in China declined to a 3-year low and private surveys also confirmed the slowdown in service sector.

On the economic front, capital spending in the second-quarter declined 5.6% compared to 7.3% in the first-quarter, The Ministry of Finance said.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 724.79 or 3.8% to 18,165.69 and the broader Topix index dropped 58.94 or 3.8% to 1,478.11.

The yen strengthened to 121.03 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

ITO EN, Ltd plummeted 6% to 2,696 yen after the tea and drinks maker said net sales in the first-quarter ending in July soared 8% from a year ago to 128.18 billion yen from 118.70 billion yen.

Net income in the quarter surged 155% to 2.39 billion yen compared to 937 million yen and diluted earnings per share jumped to 19.43 yen from 7.62 yen in the same period a year ago.

For the first-half, the tea and drinks maker forecasted net sales to increase 6.7% to 249.50 billion yen and net income to soar 25.6% to 5.50 billion yen.

The company estimated net sales for the year ending in April to jump 6.8% to 460 billion yen and net income to surge 19.3% to 8.70 billion yen.

Pioneer Corp jumped 2.7% to 226 yen after the electronic products maker developed an inexpensive optical system for self- driving passenger cars.

Toshiba Corporation declined 5.3% to 363.50 yen after the electronics products maker delayed the release of revised statements for fiscal year ending in March 2014 for the second time after new claims of 10 new cases of improper accounting errors were discovered.

Topcon Corporation dropped 3.4% to 1,862 yen after the optical maker said Toshiba Corp divested its stake of 30% worth about 50 billion yen to 60 billion yen.

The company estimated to book pre-tax profit between 30 billion yen and 40 billion yen from the sale.