Nikkei Rebounds 1.2%, FamilyMart and UNY Merge

Hiruki Nakamura
15 Oct, 2015
New York City

Bargain hunters helped the Nikkei average to rebound and halt a 3-day sell-off in Tokyo. Convenience store chain operator FamilyMart agreed to acquire the smaller rival UNY Group for $1.4 billion in all stock merger. Sumitomo Mitusi Construction rebounded after a plunge in Wednesday.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Bargain hunters helped the Nikkei average to rebound and halt a 3-day sell-off in Tokyo. Convenience store chain operator FamilyMart agreed to acquire the smaller rival UNY Group for $1.4 billion in all stock merger. Sumitomo Mitusi Construction rebounded after a plunge in Wednesday.[/R]

Bargain hunters lifted the Nikkei average from the negative zone and the benchmark index closed above 18,000 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Stocks were supported by a strength in Chinese stocks in Shanghai trading.

On the economic front, industrial output in August declined 1.2% from July, higher than the initially estimated to fall 0.5%, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 205.90 or 1.2% to 18,096.90 and the broader Topix index gained 19.89 or 1.4% to 1,490.72.

Nikkei and Topix closed up after a 3-day sell-off and in the first section of the TSE 1,609 shares rose and 223 declined while 68 shares closed unchanged.

The yen strengthened to 118.45 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Asahi Kasei Corp tumbled 13.6% to 792.70 yen after the petrochemicals company agreed that its subsidiary did not properly install the foundation piles at an apartment complex in Yokahama as a subcontractor for Sumitomo Mitsui Construction.

Asahi confirmed that the unit will bear all the costs incurred for the investigation and the necessary reinforcement and repairs.

FamilyMart Co Ltd gained 0.9% to 5,300 yen after the convenience store operator agreed to acquire smaller rival UNY Group Holdings Co through a share swap deal for about $1.4 billion.

UNY Group Holdings Co Ltd stock declined 5% to 697 yen.

Aderans Co Ltd rose 0.9% to 981 yen after the ready-made wigs maker said net sales in the first-half ending in August jumped 7% from a year ago to 39.84 billion yen.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 74.9% to 349 million yen compared to 1.39 billion yen and diluted earnings per share slumped to 8.69 yen from 37.82 yen.

The company forecasted net sales for the year to soar 5.6% to 81 billion yen and net income to decline 44.8% to 2.80 billion yen.

J.Front Retailing Co Ltd advanced 1.8% to 1,939 yen after the apparel retailer said total sales in September jumped 3.4% and sales in Parco segment soared 5.3% while sales in wholesale business plunged 6.4%.

Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co Ltd surged 23.9% to 135 yen and the company is under investigation for defecting piling work at a condominium complex of four buildings in Yokohama completed in 2007.

According to local reports, one of the building had a tilt of 2.4 centimeters over 11 stories and a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Corp will bear full responsibility of reinforcing the building and investigation.

Mitsui Fudosan checked so far 28 of the 52 piles and fund that eight of the piles were not adequately placed in the solid ground.

Takashimaya Company, Limited increased 0.6% to 953 yen after the department store operator said sales in September jumped 4.9% and sales at four regional stores in Okayama, Gifu, Yonago and Takasaki increased 4.6%.

Sales in the Western region surged 11.1% while sales in the Eastern region rose 1.7% but total sales in the month advanced 5.3%.

Corporate segment sales soared 11.6% and sales from the cross-media business segment surged 12.4%.